Square-panted sponges might be just a little bit more ubiquitous than previously realized.
Researchers have discovered a new species of mushroom that is reminiscent of SpongeBob, the famous cartoon character. Their findings are described in an online publication of the journal Mycologia on May 11.
The team discovered the sea-sponge-like fungus in a Malaysian forest in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. It is bright orange, but turns purple when exposed to a chemical base.
“It’s just like a sponge with these big hollow holes,” said co-author Dennis Desjardin, professor at San Francisco State University, in a press release.
“When it’s wet and moist and fresh, you can wring water out of it and it will spring back to its original size. Most mushrooms don’t do that.”
Microscopically, part of the mushroom even resembles a seafloor covered with sponges, prompting the team to name their discovery Spongiforma squarepantsii.
The fungus is the newest species in the genus of Spongiforma, joining only one other known Spongiforma species called S. thailandica. This brownish fungus was discovered in central Thailand by another group of researchers led by Desjardin in 2005.
“We expect that it has a wider range than these two areas,” said Desjardin. “But perhaps we haven’t seen it in more places because we haven’t collected it yet in some of the underexplored forests of the region.”
Unlike the typical mushroom that has a cap on a stem to protect its spores from drying out, Spongiforma species cope by being “gelatinous or rubbery.”
“Its adaptation is to revive very quickly if it dries out, by absorbing very small amounts of moisture from the air,” said Desjardin.
The scientists have another upcoming paper in Mycologia where they will detail five more mushroom species they recently discovered in Hawaii.
“We go to underexplored forests around the world, and we spend months at a time collecting all the mushrooms and focusing on various groups,” said Desjardin. “And when we do that type of work, on average, anywhere from 25 percent to 30 percent of the species are new to science.”
The team is eager to learn about new species because “diversity is necessary to make the forests work the way they’re supposed to work.”
Microscopically, part of the mushroom even resembles a seafloor covered with sponges, prompting the team to name their discovery Spongiforma squarepantsii.
The fungus is the newest species in the genus of Spongiforma, joining only one other known Spongiforma species called S. thailandica. This brownish fungus was discovered in central Thailand by another group of researchers led by Desjardin in 2005.
“We expect that it has a wider range than these two areas,” said Desjardin. “But perhaps we haven’t seen it in more places because we haven’t collected it yet in some of the underexplored forests of the region.”
Unlike the typical mushroom that has a cap on a stem to protect its spores from drying out, Spongiforma species cope by being “gelatinous or rubbery.”
“Its adaptation is to revive very quickly if it dries out, by absorbing very small amounts of moisture from the air,” said Desjardin.
The scientists have another upcoming paper in Mycologia where they will detail five more mushroom species they recently discovered in Hawaii.
“We go to underexplored forests around the world, and we spend months at a time collecting all the mushrooms and focusing on various groups,” said Desjardin. “And when we do that type of work, on average, anywhere from 25 percent to 30 percent of the species are new to science.”
The team is eager to learn about new species because “diversity is necessary to make the forests work the way they’re supposed to work.”
