Deep in the forests of southwest China, international researchers have discovered a massive new species of fungus named Dianjunus rex, which produces vertical fruiting bodies reaching up to 20 inches high and weighing up to 5 pounds.
Discovery in Yunnan Forests
Scientists from the Kunming Institute of Botany alongside colleagues from Thailand and Mexico recovered the specimens during fieldwork in Yunnan province. They located large, whitish fruiting bodies, known as stromata, growing on the woody roots of Chinese cork oak trees. Brightsurf.com noted that the fieldwork covered temperate coniferous forests near Damaidi and Yipinglang as well as tropical rainforest near Nanbang.
Ascomycota represents the largest group of fungi, containing more than 64,000 known species. Members of this phylum do not produce true mushrooms; instead, they release spores from tiny sack-like structures located inside or on the surface of their fruiting bodies.
Evolutionary Origins After the Dinosaurs
Researchers analyzed the genome and morphology of the fungus, placing the new family, Dianjunaceae, within the order Xylariales. By utilizing a molecular clock analysis comparing the DNA against hundreds of fungi with known evolutionary ages, the study estimated that Dianjunaceae arose approximately 65 million years ago. This timeline places the origin of the family just one million years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
This timing raises an intriguing possibility,
said Dr. Indunil C. Senanayake, an associate professor at the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species of the Kunming Institute of Botany and corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Fungal Biology. After the mass extinction, forests experienced dramatic changes, including the sudden availability of large amounts of dead plant material.
Energy Costs of Towering Fruiting Bodies
Senanayake explained that such environmental disruption likely created fresh ecological opportunities for wood-associated decomposing fungi. The research team noted that maintaining such a massive structure requires a substantial energy investment from the organism.
A fruiting body which towers above surrounding vegetation and debris could have better dispersal of spores by wind in dense forests,
Senanayake hypothesized regarding the evolutionary advantage of the size. However, such a large structure requires substantial energy investment, suggesting that this strategy likely evolved only where the ecological benefits outweighed the costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the closest known relative to Dianjunus rex?
The closest known relative is Graphostroma platystoma, a fungus that grows on dead hardwood across the Northern Hemisphere and constitutes its own family, Graphostromataceae.
Where exactly were the fungal specimens deposited?
Researchers collected the fruiting bodies during their fieldwork and deposited voucher specimens in the official collections of the Kunming Institute of Botany in China.
What ecological niche does the new species occupy?
The fungus acts as a wood-decomposing organism, specifically growing on and inhabiting the woody rhizosphere roots of the Chinese cork oak.
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