Fractaliopsybe said:

"Adaptability to specific types of wood(Secondary metabolites). this causes substantial speciation in plant pathogenic species of fungi. The Psilocybes are not eating living plants, but they are eating wood that has the chemicals still present in them.

Combine this with other environmental factors in combination with more then a single Genotype present within a species, and one or more of the genotypes might start separating from the group, leading to multiple phenotypes, and eventually speciation."


These apply to all mushrooms, not just psilocybes.

"Speciation can then be understood in terms of general models applied to other organisms. Trends of resource partitioning, divergent selection, etc., lead to genetic isolation of sub-populations. The exact way in which this occurs is still hotly debated

Mushrooms also have some unique genetic properties which may assist speciation events. Because mating type loci can become self-compatible as a result of only a few single mutations, mushroom lineages can switch breeding systems abruptly, leading to rapid sympatric isolation."

Food for thought

---