Quote:

---

New Glowing Fungi Species Found in Brazil

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/photogalleries/glowing-fungi/photo2.html

A species of bioluminescent fungi looks unassuming as it pokes its capped head above the mossy wood from which it grows in the tropical forests of Brazil. But at night a chemical reaction causes the fungus to emit an eerie green glow sometimes called foxfire.

The 33 Mycena species known to glow in the dark are separated into 16 lineages, San Francisco State's Desjardin says.

"Obviously the big question then arises: Did luminescence evolve 16 different times in the genus Mycena, or did it evolve only a few times and was lost hundreds of times during the course of evolution?" he said in an email to National Geographic News.

To help answer this question, Desjardin's research team has been extracting and sequencing DNA from the glowing mushrooms. They will use the data to develop a mushroom "family tree" that includes glowers and related nonglowers, a first step to determining when bioluminescence emerged in fungi.

---

Quote:

---

Amatoxin said:
Theres quite a few other photos on that National Geographic link I provided.

---

Quote:

---

Amatoxin said:
Somebody give this kid a gold star! 

---

Quote:

---

Amatoxin said:

Quote:

---

New Glowing Fungi Species Found in Brazil

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/photogalleries/glowing-fungi/photo2.html

A species of bioluminescent fungi looks unassuming as it pokes its capped head above the mossy wood from which it grows in the tropical forests of Brazil. But at night a chemical reaction causes the fungus to emit an eerie green glow sometimes called foxfire.

The 33 Mycena species known to glow in the dark are separated into 16 lineages, San Francisco State's Desjardin says.

"Obviously the big question then arises: Did luminescence evolve 16 different times in the genus Mycena, or did it evolve only a few times and was lost hundreds of times during the course of evolution?" he said in an email to National Geographic News.

To help answer this question, Desjardin's research team has been extracting and sequencing DNA from the glowing mushrooms. They will use the data to develop a mushroom "family tree" that includes glowers and related nonglowers, a first step to determining when bioluminescence emerged in fungi.

---

---

where  is Amatoxin.. 

Academic and applied research on fungi bioluminescence
http://www.iq.usp.br/wwwdocentes/stevani/FungusLux_en/initial.html

We are mycologists in search of bioluminescent mushrooms, fungi that emit light 24 hours per day but are best observed at night.

http://www.iq.usp.br/wwwdocentes/stevani/FungusLux_en/Media/slideshow.html?backgroundColor=%23000000&reflectionHeight=100&reflectionOffset=2&captionHeight=100&fullScreen=1&transitionIndex=2

Soon, looking down appears as if we are looking up into a star-filled sky. We see dozens of what look like fireflies, except they don't blink off and they don't move. They turn out to be very small mushroom caps belonging to a new species that we named Mycena asterina (tiny stars).

-Further into the forest we encounter a moss-covered Eugenia tree aglow with mushrooms of Gerronema viridilucens, another new species. And next to it on a fallen log is a luminescent Mycena fera. In total, this night we discover 8 different species of luminescent mushrooms, more than is known from any single site anywhere in the world

- when we look at the relationships of all 500 mycenoid fungi and see that the 46 luminescent species belong to 16 different lineages.

Does that mean that the ability to emit light evolved 16 different times? Not necessarily. Our data suggest a single, early origin of luminescence in the fungi with multiple losses of the ability to emit light.

-Why do they glow? Data suggest that some glow to attract nocturnal animals to aid in spore dispersal. This is especially adaptive in closed-canopy forests where wind dispersal in hindered. Others glow to attract the predators of insects that eat the mushrooms...befriend the enemy of your enemy! And some glow for unexplained reasons. We are trying to find out why.

more
http://www.shoarns.com/Luminous.html