Scientists Uncover D. Rex: Gigantic New 'King' Fungus From China Traces Its Roots to 65 Million Years - ScienceAlert

A colossal prehistoric snake that lived in India about 47 million years ago may have been one of the largest snakes ever to exist. Known as Vasuki indicus, the ancient reptile could have reached an extraordinary 15.2 meters (50 feet) in length, putting it in the same league as Titanoboa, the enormous extinct snake long regarded as the largest ever discovered. The remarkable discovery, described in 2024 in the journal Scientific Reports, came from fossils unearthed in Gujarat, western India. Researchers estimate that Vasuki measured between 10.9 and 15.2 meters (36 and 50 feet) long, although its exact size remains uncertain. Its enormous body and unusual evolutionary history offer a glimpse into a time when giant snakes inhabited the warm, tropical landscapes of ancient India.

A newly described fungus from Yunnan produces upright structures measuring up to 50 centimeters in total height. DNA and microscopic evidence support a new species, genus and family within the fungal order Xylariales. Its estimated lineage age overlaps the dinosaur extinction, but a connection between that event and its evolution remains hypothetical. Pale, fingerlike structures rising from tree roots in southwestern China have revealed an unexpected giant among fungi. Named Dianjunus rex, the newly described species produces fleshy reproductive structures reaching 50 centimeters in total height. The largest reported specimen weighed 2.2 kilograms, roughly 4.9 pounds. Its size was only the beginning of the surprise. Genetic comparisons and microscopic examinations placed the fungus on a distinct evolutionary branch, supporting a new genus and family. The findings appeared in Frontiers in Fungal Biology. The team included scientists from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and collaborating institutions. Corresponding author Indunil C. Senanayake works at the institute’s Germplasm Bank of Wild Species.

Image: Song et. al ‘Frontiers in Fungal Biology,’ 2026 It’s a fungi-filled world and we are just living in it. There are roughly 150,000 to 157,000 known species of fungi, and now there is a new giant species to add to that tally.

There's a new fungus amongus, and it's raising red flags among health care experts because it resists all the major antifungal treatments. The discovery involves Candidozyma auris (formerly known as Candida auris), an emerging fungal pathogen that has already become a serious problem in hospitals around the world. Since it was first described in 2009, this fungus has spread to more than 60 countries across six continents, causing healthcare-associated outbreaks and invasive infections, with mortality rates of 30–50 percent reported in some situations. The fungus can persist in healthcare environments and spread easily between patients. Because of its combination of antifungal resistance and potential for wider spread, the World Health Organization designated C. auris a critical-priority fungal pathogen in 2022. But the particular strain of this fungus described in a new paper has something especially troubling going for it: laboratory testing found it resistant to all four major classes of antifungal drugs. The isolate was recovered from a 28-year-old woman who developed a hospital-acquired surgical-site infection after elective surgery at a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.