armillaria

Slugs help mushrooms start new colonies by spreading spores through their faeces

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Mantleslugs carry spores of dozens of fungal species in their faeces, and some of them even begin to germinate within the moist digestive tracts Life 24 February 2022 By Jake Buehler Mantleslugs feeding on oyster mushrooms Nobuko Tuno Some mushroom-eating slugs may be important – if slow – dispersal vehicles for fungal spores, which the … Read more

We May Finally Know What Makes One of The World’s Largest Organisms So Tough

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With massive webs of probing black tentacles extending for miles below the ground, the Armillaria group of fungi includes some of the largest known organisms on our planet.  An 8,500-year-old specimen of Armillaria ostoyae in Oregon covers 2,385 acres (3.7 square miles) with its mass of rhizomorph tentacles and is estimated to weigh roughly 7,500 … Read more