A new species of fungus has been discovered in the Polish Tatras, which scientists have named Cytospora tatrensis Jankowiak and Stepniewska. A bit of a mouthful of a name for a fungus, isn’t it? However, as the name implies, it refers to the location and the researchers who discovered it. So it has a long name, but in the past it was not uncommon even for humans. Kryštof Harant from Polžice and Bezdružice. Tadeáš Hájek from Hájek. Everyone had a name and to that was added the place where they came from. So why couldn’t a mushroom have one as well?

A new kind of mushroom

“The discovery of this new species expands our knowledge of the diversity of fungi and their role in mountain forest ecosystems,” the Tatra National Park statement emphasises. The newly described species was discovered on dying shoots of Scots pine in the Polish Tatras. Scientists from the Hugo Kołłątaj University of Agriculture in Krakow – Professor Robert Jankowiak, Dr Piotr Bilański and Dr Hanna Stępniewska – discovered a trace of this sac-shaped fungus, which belongs to the order Diaporthales.

Fungi of the Cytospora family are found mainly on woody plants. Depending on conditions, they can either naturally decompose organic matter or cause diseases in trees, including some cancers. The new species is said to share some characteristics with fungi that inhabit some dwarf pine species in China.

━━ ( Source: Szymon Gruszczyński /  Unsplash+ )

Role in the ecosystem

According to Zielona Interia, these fungi can play different roles in ecosystems: from saprotrophs that decompose dead plant tissue, to endophytes that live inside plants without visible symptoms, to pathogens that cause disease. “As tree pathogens, species of the genus Cytospora are particularly well known for causing tree canker, although other disease symptoms may also be present in infected trees,” the paper says.

Tatra National Park in numbers

Tatra National Park, where the new fungus species was discovered, was established in 1954 and is one of the largest nature reserves in Poland. It serves as a refuge for dozens of critically endangered plant and animal species. These include the Scots pine or the Tatra chamois. Although the park is a sanctuary for rare species of plants and animals, it is commonly visited by people. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations. Last year, the Tatra National Park attracted 5.3 million visitors.

Another mushroom discovery after a few years

Polish scientists are really successful. This is confirmed by the fact that this is not the first new species of fungus discovered in Poland in the last few years. In 2023, Katarzyna Patejuková from the Department of Phytopathology and Mycology at the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Biological Sciences discovered the fungus Colletotrichum acericola in the capital of Lower Silesia. At that time, the scientist discovered the fungus on the seeds of sycamore trees growing on Krakowska and Bytomska streets in Wrocław.

Patejuk points out that the new species of fungus genetically “stands out” among its closest relatives – the Colletotrichum agaves complex. He explains that Colletotrichum fungi are generally known as endophytes, i.e. species that live inside plant tissues without damaging them, and as economically important plant pathogens, causing anthracnose.