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Exploring the World of Fungi

This quiz explores various aspects of fungi, including their symbiotic relationships, biological classifications, and their impacts on ecology and medicine.

#Fungi #Mycology #Biology #Ecology #Botany

1 [144] As in ________, the photobiont provides sugars and other carbohydrates via photosynthesis, while the fungus provides minerals and water.

2 For example, the ________ was formulated by scientists who used the bread mold Neurospora crassa to test their biochemical theories.

3 Furthermore, persons with immuno-deficiencies are particularly susceptible to disease by genera such as ________, Candida, Cryptococcus,[134][155][156] Histoplasma,[157] and Pneumocystis.

4 Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites (or ________), and research has established the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi.

5 [29] Some can survive the intense UV and ________ encountered during space travel.

6 ________) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.

7 Members of the ________ form arbuscular mycorrhizae, a form of symbiosis where fungal hyphae invade plant root cells and both species benefit from the resulting increased supply of nutrients.

8 Neither water molds nor slime molds are closely related to the true fungi, and, therefore, ________ no longer group them in the kingdom Fungi.

9 What period does the fossils of the Fungus come from?

10 [202] Fungi have been shown to biomineralize uranium ________, suggesting they may have application in the bioremediation of radioactively polluted sites.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the cobalt crust fungus was selected as the German Mycological Society's fungus of the year in 2009.
  • the false earthstar in the fungal family Astraeaceae (pictured) can open and close its rays in response to changes in humidity.
  • the Foothill Yellow-legged Frog secretes an anti-fungal protein from its skin to prevent infections by various fungi such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
  • the Lulworthiaceae are a family of marine fungi that typically grow on submerged wood or seaweed.
  • the yellow earth tongue (pictured) has been described as a fungus one is likely to find while looking for something else.
  • the spiny puffball (pictured), an edible fungus, can inhibit the growth of several bacteria pathogenic to humans.
  • the type species of fungal genus Clavaria (pictured) is commonly known as "fairy fingers".
  • the specific name of the newly described fungus Suillus quiescens refers to the ability of its spores to lay dormant in the soil until pine roots are encountered.
  • the fungus family Tremellaceae includes both commercially cultivated edible species as well as yeast-like human pathogens.
  • the fungus Hypomyces tremellicola is a parasite that deforms the cap of the mushroom Crepidotus mollis.
  • the original specimen of the mauve splitting waxcap, a fungus from eastern Australia, found its way from Melbourne to Budapest but disappeared during the First World War.
  • the mushroom Cystodermella cinnabarina can only be distinguished from similar fungi by performing chemical tests and microscopic analysis of spores, basidia and cystidia.
  • the scientific name of the common Australian garden fungus Aseroë rubra (pictured) means 'red disgusting juice'.
  • the European fungus Ramaria formosa, found under beech trees, resembles a yellow-tipped pink piece of many-branched coral.
  • the buff and yellow mushrooms (fruiting bodies) of the fungus Boletus radicans (pictured) can reach 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter.
  • various species in the fungal genus Antrodia, used in Taiwan as traditional medicines, have been shown to have antioxidant and anticancer properties.
  • upon coming in contact with an alkali solution, the hairs of the fungus Microstoma floccosum will swell and then dissolve.
  • when it was first described in the late 1600s, the earthstar fungus Geastrum fornicatum (pictured) was named Fungus anthropomorphus for its resemblance to the human form.
  • while the fungus Apophysomyces is safe to handle, even a small amount entering the bloodstream can lead to a fatal mucormycosis infection.
  • wood infected by the "green elfcup" fungus, species Chlorociboria aeruginascens, is used in the manufacture of decorative inlaid woodwork like Tunbridge ware and parquetry.
  • wolf lichen, fungal species Letharia vulpina (pictured), was used historically as a wolf poison by combining it with powdered glass and meat.
  • the widely consumed porcini mushroom is often confused with the fungus Boletus pinophilus (pictured).
  • the soil-dwelling nematode-killing fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus has been known to cause human eye infections.
  • the pigment responsible for the colour of the bright green Parrot Toadstool is not chlorophyll as it is a fungus.
  • the oak mazegill fungus Daedalea quercina has been used as a horse-comb and as a bee anesthetic.
  • the putrid stench of the "latticed stinkhorn" fungus Clathrus ruber (pictured) attracts insects to help disperse its spores.
  • the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea destroys enough rice to feed more than 60 million people annually, and that its spores were prepared as an anti-plant biological weapon during World War II.
  • the so-called "lobster mushroom" (pictured) is a delicacy created by one fungus, Hypomyces lactifluorum, parasitising another, usually Russula brevipes.
  • the fungus Podaxis is often used as face paint by the Australian Aborigines.
  • the fungus Humaria hemisphaerica is commonly known as the "hairy fairy cup".
  • because he misidentified the stalked lattice stinkhorn fungus (pictured) as a new species, George Atkinson was ridiculed in print by fellow mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd.
  • English mycologist and plant pathologist R.W.G. Dennis has 40 fungal species named after him.
  • despite being named for its distribution in the western hemisphere, the fungus Sarcoscypha occidentalis (pictured) is also found in Asia.
  • immature specimens of the lantern stinkhorn fungus (pictured), with an odor of dog feces, sewage, or rotting flesh when mature, are considered an edible and medicinal delicacy in China.
  • some members of the fungal family Orbiliaceae can lasso nematodes using outgrowths of their hyphae.
  • mycologist Olav Johan Sopp suggested classifying fungi as belonging to neither plantae nor animalia, but to a third kingdom, back in the 1890s.
  • Ornatifilum is likely to be the oldest known fossil fungus.
  • Cystoderma carcharias is considered an inedible fungus because of an unpleasant odor attributable to the presence of geosmin.
  • "pig's ears", fungal species Gomphus clavatus, are the only Gomphus species in North America.
  • "little white", a mushroom in the fungal genus Trogia, has been implicated in the deaths of about 400 people in Yunnan, China.
  • fungus Tricholoma pardinum (pictured) was responsible for over 20% of cases of mushroom poisoning in Switzerland in the first half of the 20th century.
  • Scleroderris canker is a fungal disease among coniferous trees, sometimes spread by imported Christmas trees, that can kill an entire forest within a few years.
  • Banksiamyces are fungi that grow on the dead "cones" of Banksia species.
  • species in the fungal genus Wynnea (W. americana, pictured) have asci that are capped by a hinged operculum.
  • species in the fungal genus Ameliella have been found in the Skibotn area in central Northern Norway, a hotspot of lichen species diversity.
  • the fungus Hemileia vastatrix (pictured) which plagued the coffee industry in Ceylon from 1869 contributed to the growth of commercial tea production.
  • the fungal genus Polytolypa is known from a single specimen found growing on dung of the North American porcupine.
  • the fungus Albatrellus subrubescens was first collected from Florida and Czechoslovakia.
  • the fungus Boletus luridus may cause nausea and vomiting if consumed with alcohol, or if not thoroughly cooked.
  • the fungus Epidermophyton floccosum can cause the diseases tinea pedis, tinea cruris, tinea corporis and onychomycosis.
  • the fungal genus Hericium includes the monkey's head fungus, used in Traditional Chinese medicine.
  • the fungal plant pathogen Taphrina padi turns the fruits of infected Bird Cherry trees into distinctive, elongated, tongue-like structures.
  • species in the fungal genus Cyathus produce bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidative properties.
  • species in the fungal genus Ceratobasidium cause economically important plant diseases such as sharp eyespot of cereals and black rot of coffee.
  • species in the aquatic fungus family Loramycetaceae have spores with gelatinous sheaths thought to act as flotation devices.
  • the "orange tooth" fungus, Hydnellum aurantiacum, is considered critically endangered in the United Kingdom.
  • the scientific name of the vase-shaped forest fungus Gomphus floccosus (pictured) means 'woolly plug'.
  • "bleeding tooth fungus" is a member of the woody toothed fungus genus Hydnellum (example pictured).
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