China Scientists Identify 50-Cm Dianjunus rex, Creating New Fungal Family
Updated
Updated · SciTechDaily · Oct 26
China Scientists Identify 50-Cm Dianjunus rex, Creating New Fungal Family
3 articles · Updated · SciTechDaily · Oct 26
Summary
Yunnan fieldwork uncovered Dianjunus rex, a whitish root-associated fungus with spore-bearing structures up to 50 centimeters tall and 2.2 kilograms, the largest known fruiting bodies in Ascomycota.
Genome sequencing and morphological study showed the fungus is not just a new species and genus within Xylariales but the first known member of a new family, Dianjunaceae.
Molecular-clock analysis dated that family to about 65 million years ago, shortly after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, when abundant dead plant material may have opened niches for wood-decomposing fungi.
Researchers found the stromata on woody roots of Chinese cork oak in temperate and tropical Yunnan forests and said the discovery points to underestimated fungal diversity in subtropical China.