Fungi worldwide
Short, sourced facts about fungi. Each one is marked as confirmed, disputed or a myth, so you always know what you are reading.
Curiosities
Basidiomycete yeasts were found in the cortex of many macrolichens, but this does not establish an obligatory third partner in every lichen. A thallus hosts a broader microbiome.
Source: Spribille et al. 2016 — basidiomycete yeasts in the cortex of ascomycete macrolichens
Mycorrhiza is dominant among land plants, but “90%” conflates several kinds of association. The synthesis estimates about 72%, 2%, 1.5%, and 10% of species.
Source: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — State of the World’s Fungi
Termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae grow fungi of the genus Termitomyces in underground gardens, in a symbiosis tens of millions of years old.
Source: Oligocene termite nests with fungus gardens (2016)
Molecular analyses place fungi and animals in the shared group Opisthokonta. Fungi do not photosynthesise; they absorb substances from around them.
Source: Phylogenomics of Opisthokonta — a taxon-rich tree
Curiosities
The rule "if animals ate it, it is safe" does not hold. Mycophagous fly larvae tolerate amanitin — humans do not.
Source: Jaenike & Grimaldi 1983 — α-amanitin tolerance in mycophagous Drosophila
Amatoxins are heat-stable. Boiling, frying, drying and pickling do not make the death cap edible under any circumstances whatsoever.
Source: Chief Sanitary Inspectorate of Poland
A ring can record a mycelial growth front, but soil, drought, obstacles and competition often break the ideal geometry. Not every vegetation ring is fungal.
Source: Fungal fairy rings: history, ecology, dynamics (2025)
Curiosities
The familiar figure of 23,328 describes possible genetic mating-type combinations in split-gill fungi. Behind the striking number lies a compatibility system invisible in a mushroom photograph.
Source: Mating types and subtypes in Schizophyllum commune
The Hainan fruiting body reached 10.85 m; its 400–500 kg mass was calculated from volume and three density samples, not directly weighed.
Source: Dai & Cui 2011 — the largest fruiting body among the fungi
A genetically uniform Armillaria ostoyae in Oregon extends over about 965 hectares. The record concerns mycelium, not the size of a fruiting body.
Source: USDA Forest Service — Malheur National Forest
Curiosities
An endophyte from the Ecuadorian Amazon degrades polyester polyurethane and grows on it as its only carbon source.
Source: Russell et al. 2011 — biodegradation of polyester polyurethane by endophytic fungi
In 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed that a mould of the genus Penicillium inhibited bacterial growth on a culture plate. So began the age of antibiotics.
Source: Nobel Prize 1945 — Fleming, Chain, Florey
In 2025 researchers described 30 high-level fungal lineages—from order to phylum—using long sequences and deposited environmental material.
Source: MycoKeys — taxonomic journal (Pensoft)
Curiosities
Wind is not the only transport available to fungi. Chytrids produce motile zoospores, and their aquatic life cycles connect cell biology with lake food webs.
Source: A cellular and molecular atlas of chytrid development
Coordinated spore discharge and evaporative cooling are two different ways fungi create local airflows. We explain the mechanisms and the evidence.
Source: Roper et al. 2010 — dispersal of fungal spores on a cooperatively generated wind
The 180,000-g maximum was measured in Ascobolus immersus, not Pilobolus. Four dung fungi in the study reached roughly 20,000–180,000 g.
Source: Yafetto et al. 2008, “The Fastest Flights in Nature”
Curiosities
Some fungi are predators. Chemical signals from nematodes trigger the construction of hyphal traps, while experiments reveal which receptors control this change in growth.
Source: GprC and fungal nematode hunting
Wallemia ichthyophaga requires at least 10% salt and thrives in saturated brine. Among fungi that behaviour is exceptional.
Source: Zajc et al. 2013 — genome of the halophilic fungus Wallemia ichthyophaga
The green in fifteenth-century intarsia came from poplar colonized by Chlorociboria. Its persistent blue-green compound is xylindein.
Source: Blanchette et al. 1992 — green-stained wood in 15th-century intarsia
Periodical cicadas infected by Massospora cicadina contained cathinone, not amphetamine. Psilocybin appeared in another fungal lineage infecting annual cicadas.
Source: Boyce et al. 2019 — psychoactive alkaloids from two cicada pathogens
The 1.0–0.9-billion-year-old Ourasphaira giraldae has fungus-like features, but its affinity rests on morphology and a chitin signal, not DNA.
Source: Loron et al. 2019 — early fungi from the Proterozoic era in Arctic Canada
Blueing follows rapid oxidation after injury. Variegatic acid explained four studied boletes, while other species use different chemical precursors.
Source: FUNGI Magazine — the chemistry of blueing in boletes
Obligate fungus gardens evolved independently in multiple bark- and ambrosia-beetle lineages. The exact count depends on sampling and the definition of fungiculture.
Source: Fungus-farming insects: multiple origins and diverse evolutionary histories
A 2026 study of P. taiti found anatomy unlike known fungi and chemistry distinct from fungi preserved in the same rock, favouring an extinct eukaryotic lineage.
Source: Prototaxites — structural and chemical analysis (2025)
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis infects ants and leads them to a place that suits the fungus, where the insect clamps its jaws on a plant and dies.
Source: Penn State — research on Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
In one orbital run, the detector beneath a fungal layer logged 147 counts/minute versus 151 below the control. The sensors measured neither dose nor melanin alone.
Source: Cladosporium sphaerospermum on the ISS — effect of ionising radiation
Fungal cell walls are made of chitin — the same material as insect shells. The often-repeated claim that humans cannot digest it at all is imprecise.
Source: Scientific Reports — chitin digestibility and acidic chitinase in the stomach
The stinkhorn does not rely on the wind. The slime on its head smells of carrion and dung, and the flies that feed on it carry the spores away.
Source: Woodland Trust — Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus)
Foxfire has been described in over a hundred species of the Agaricales, among them Omphalotus and Mycena. Luciferase oxidising luciferin causes it.
Source: The living light from fungi (review, 2024)
