New mushroom species discovered from Sri Lanka

by Staff Writer 02-05-2023 | 5:21 PM

COLOMBO (News 1st); Two new mushroom species and a new record of a mushroom species have been identified from Sri Lanka.

The new species of mushroom were discovered by Dr. Aseni Navoda Ediriweera from the Mae Fah Luang University in Thailand, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and her research team.

The research was guided by Professor Samantha C. Karunarathna.

The new species from Sri Lanka have been named as Candolleomyces ruhunensis and Termitomyces srilankensis.

A new record of Crepidotus striatus was reported from the wet zone of Sri Lanka, mainly in Kanneliya, and it previously only recorded in China.

"In 2023, we disocvered two new mushroom species and a new record of a species. Sri Lanka's records on mushrooms date back to the 1700s. It was only after the year 2000, that a proper research on mushrooms was carried out. This is also the first time that a mushroom species was named after a university. This was the first record of a Candolleomyces species. In addition, we also discovered Termitomyces srilankensis. The other record was of Crepidotus striatus from the Kanneliya forest. This is the second ever record of this species. It was identified as a new species in China," elaborated Dr. Aseni Navoda Ediriweera.