Several new species of fungi and some rare finds were cataloged during a recent UO workshop with a leading fungus expert from Taiwan.

The workshop was organized by biology professor Bitty Roy, a member of the UO’s Institute of Ecology and Evolution, and included professor Yu-Ming Ju of Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Ju was joined by his own doctoral advisor, emeritus professor Jack Rogers of Washington State University.

Ju and Rogers are the world’s leading taxonomists for the fungus family Xylariaceae. These fungi are found inside literally every leaf in the tropics and are important wood decomposers. Specimens from Asia, Africa and the Americas were examined at the workshop, several of which were found to be previously unknown to science.

One rare species, Nemania kellermanii, was collected in Oregon. This black and crusty fungus had only been collected once before, more than 100 years ago in Ohio, and until now had only been known from the single specimen that defined this species.

The fungus was found this year by UO doctoral students Roo Vandegrift and Daniel Thomas, along with mycologists Danny Newman and Patty Kaishian.