Australia/NZ August - 2023
Edition 235
SPIDER BEATS BAT
MYSTERIOUS MEGA MUSHROOMS
A cluster of giant mushrooms have appeared at a nature reserve in regional South Australia. Suspected to be large boletes or Phlebopus marginatus, the fungi are considered Australia’s largest terrestrial mushroom and often appear after rainfall. Luke Leddy, discovered the mega mushrooms at Cockatoo Lake Recreation Reserve and reported, “I didn’t know much about them till I got home and googled them… They can grow up to one metre wide.” Originally mistaking the mushrooms for piles of firewood, Leddy claimed some were at least 40-centimetres-wide. Ecologist, author, and environmental photographer, Alison