From the forests of northeast India’s Arunachal Pradesh state, researchers have described a new-to-science species of fungus with “exceptionally large” fruiting bodies that can hold the weight of a person. The species is named Bridgeoporus kanadii in honor of Indian mycologist Kanad Das for his contributions to Indian macrofungi.
The researchers led by Arvind Parihar, from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), unexpectedly came upon the fungus during a survey of mushrooms in Arunachal Pradesh during the monsoon season, reports Mongabay’s Divya Kilikar.
They found clusters of at least 40 fruiting bodies of an unfamiliar fungus growing on the trunks of coniferous trees, primarily old-growth fir trees (Abies spp.). What stood out was the sheer size of some of the fungal fruiting bodies: the largest was more than three meters (10 feet) in radius. “It is so large that I could sit on it, and it remained firmly attached to the tree,” Parihar said.
Although new to science, B. kanadii is known to local community members, but they don’t harvest it as it’s inedible and not economically valuable, Parihar added.
The researchers brought some of the fungi specimens back to dry and preserve. They then analyzed its morphology in detail, including its color, size, shape, thickness, length and width. They also sequenced the fungus’s DNA, compared it with recorded genetic data of other fungal species, and finally confirmed that it was indeed a new-to-science species of Bridgeoporus.
There were previously only two other known species within the genus: B. nobilissimus, a critically endangered species, grows on fir trees in North America, and its fruiting bodies have been recorded to measure up to 1.5 m (5 ft) wide; the other species, B. sinensis, grows on trees like the Ussuri poplar (Populus ussuriensis) in the forests of China, and was described in 2017. However, Parihar said B. sinensis was eventually moved to another genus, Oxyporus, making B. kanadii from Arunachal Pradesh the second species known in the genus.
Bridgeoporus fungi play a vital role in forest regeneration by helping to decompose dead wood. Most of the B. kanadii the researchers spotted in Arunachal Pradesh were growing on dead fir trees. “Wood rotting fungi are an important group of fungi which play an indispensable role in the intricate tapestry of carbon and nutrient cycling, because of their unique capacity to degrade cellulose and lignin,” they write in the study.
“The lens with which we look at fungi is far too limited,” Parihar said. “Most people only ask: is it poisonous or edible? But all fungi silently work to maintain our ecosystems. Without fungi, forests will be full of debris, logs and leaf litter left undecomposed.”
Read the full story by Divya Kilikar here.
Banner image: Newly described B. kanadii growing on a fir tree in a forest in Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India. Image courtesy of Arvind Parihar.
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