Dianjunus rex Described as a New Giant Fungus From Yunnan

Club-like fruiting bodies reaching fifty centimeters

ScienceAlert reports that researchers described Dianjunus rex, or D. rex, from forests in China’s Yunnan Province. Its white, club-like fruiting bodies, called stromata, can reach 50 centimeters tall. The report says recorded specimens grew on decaying roots or stumps of oak trees, including Chinese cork oak.

The report does not provide a before-to-now comparison beyond describing D. rex as a newly described species and the only known member of Dianjunaceae.

The researchers describe Dianjunus rex as a new species, the sole known member of Dianjunaceae, and estimate from DNA comparisons that its lineage diverged from its nearest known relatives about 65 million years ago.

The report describes D. rex as having the largest stromata recorded for an ascomycete, a major fungal group that includes morels, truffles, and cordyceps. Its evolutionary timing is an estimate, while any connection between that timing and the Chicxulub impact remains a proposed possibility rather than a demonstrated cause.