Scientists Find Massive New 'King' of the Fungi

A fungus as big as a carry-on suitcase has just been named king of the mushrooms. In China's Yunnan forests, scientists have identified Dianjunus rex, a towering fungus whose pale yellow, fingerlike structures can reach 20 inches tall and weigh nearly 5 pounds, making it the largest known member of its massive fungal group, Ascomycota, CNN reports. That partially explains its name, with a nod to colossal dinosaur and "lizard king" T. rex.

Locals had seen and even sampled the mushroom before a curious resident sent photos to researchers, who realized it was not only a new species but an entirely new family, Dianjunaceae. Genetic work suggests it arose about a million years after the asteroid strike that ended the dinosaurs, thriving as a super-sized decomposer in a world littered with dead plants and animals. Now described in Frontiers in Fungal Biology, it hints at how much fungal diversity scientists still haven't found, according to a release.