Eight new macrofungi species found in China's Hainan

HAIKOU, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences said Thursday they have discovered eight new macrofungi species in south China's island province of Hainan.

The fungi, found in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, belong to the Xylaria genus, which can decompose cellulose and lignin and play an important decomposition role in the tropical rainforest ecosystem, said Ma Haixia, head of the research team.

Ma has led the team to the park more than 50 times since 2016 to investigate local macrofungi on woody substrata and collected a total of 2,212 specimens, showing the diversity of macrofungi resources in the park.

Relevant academic results about the fungi have been published in MycoKeys and other international journals of biological taxonomy.