Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 3 hrs ago
Giant Chinese fungus reaches 50 cm, with lineage dating to after dinosaur extinction
Researchers in Yunnan, China, discovered a giant fungus growing on the woody roots of Chinese cork oak trees.
Named Dianjunus rex, or “D-rex,” it produces pale, upright reproductive structures called stromata.
The structures can reach 50 cm tall and weigh up to 2.2 kg, making them the largest known fruiting bodies among ascomycete fungi.
Genetic analysis showed the fungus was distinct enough to be classified in a new genus and family.
Its family’s lineage may have begun about 65 million years ago, roughly one million years after the mass extinction that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs.
The researchers suggest that the major environmental changes after the extinction, including more dead plant material, may have helped the fungus’s ancestors, but this is not proven.
How the fungus grows so large and what role its wood-decomposing enzymes play still need study.
Researchers identified Dianjunus rex, a giant fungus found in forests in Yunnan, China.
Its upright reproductive structures can reach 50 cm and weigh up to 2.2 kg.
The species has the largest known fruiting bodies among fungi in the phylum Ascomycota.
Genetic analysis led researchers to classify it in a new genus and family, Dianjunaceae.
A molecular-clock estimate suggests the family’s lineage began about 65 million years ago, roughly one million years after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.
Researchers say environmental changes after the extinction may have favored the lineage, but this remains a hypothesis.
- Who
- Researchers from the Kunming Institute of Botany identified the fungus.
- What
- They discovered Dianjunus rex, a giant fungus with reproductive structures up to 50 cm tall and weighing up to 2.2 kg.
- When
- The discovery was reported on October 26, 2026. The lineage is estimated to have originated about 65 million years ago.
- Where
- Forests in Yunnan, China.
- Why
- Not stated
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Dianjunaceae lineage is estimated to have originated roughly one million years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.
Reports on the discovery of Dianjunus rex were published.
- Species
- Dianjunus rex
- Nickname
- D-rex
- Maximum height
- 50 cm
- Maximum weight
- 2.2 kg
- New family
- Dianjunaceae
- Estimated lineage origin
- About 65 million years ago
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What people are saying
This remarkable species represents a new fungal family, Dianjunaceae, and provides a rare window into the evolution of extreme fungal body forms