A strange, living obelisk erupts out of the sand and arches its long body over windswept dunes. But this is no giant sandworm on the alien world of Arrakis. It is one of four newly described species of sand-dwelling fungi living on the Pannonian steppe in Hungary.
Stalked puffballs (Tulostoma) can be easily distinguished from other fungi, says at E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University in Hungary. They have a round, spore-spewing fruiting body supported by a tall, fungal pillar.
In 2017, researchers revealed genetic evidence that there were , with nine of them in Hungary. Dima and his colleagues, led by , also at E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University, targeted these Hungarian species, collecting them from dry, sandy grasslands with dunes deposited by the Danube river.
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By comparing Tulostoma collected from the steppe with other described species, the team found subtle differences in their genetics, spore size, ornamentation and habitat that suggested there were four species new to science: Tulostoma dunense, Tulostoma hungaricum, Tulostoma听蝉补肠肠丑补谤颈辞濒别苍蝉 and Tulostoma shaihuludii. The last of these was named after the Shai-Hulud, the from the Dune series of science fiction novels written by Frank Herbert.
T. shaihuludii has a curved stalk, which causes the puffball cap to face sideways, evoking the great sandworm out of the sand, says Dima. Appropriately, it is also a relatively large species.
Dima expects substantially more stalked puffball species will soon be described from Hungary鈥檚 steppe as detailed study of the fungi continues.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e really cool fungi,鈥� says at the University of Florida, who wasn鈥檛 involved with the study. 鈥淭hey seem to love these very dry environments.鈥�
Smith says the fungi鈥檚 tall stalk may help them disperse their spores further in wind or rain by elevating the puffball above any surrounding vegetation.
But there are still unanswered questions about stalked puffball ecology, says Smith.聽鈥淲e know they鈥檙e breaking down dead organic material. But what exactly does that look like in a sand dune? We don鈥檛 know.鈥�
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