A more than 20 kilogram goose was discovered in 2007 in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico.

The largest fruiting ody of the Americans is without a doubt the Macrocyeian, also known as the American. I wrote about a rare African mushroom named Termiomyces ianicus in a recent Fungi Friday. I develop really rapidly, just as my species name suggests.

They both have some of the biggest roosters on the aircraft, but their ecology is different. I will remind the reader why directional selection toward larger fruiting bodies has happened in at least one of these species as the way each species makes a decision differs quite dramatically. Here, I offer a few theories on this remarkable American.

We can start to put the puzzle together with our understanding of ecology even if there hasn’t been much research on the ecology of the species Termiomyces ianicus, which is growing on the opposite side of the plane. Macrocystic ianism is definitely ianism, with some species becoming incredibly wide!

If you are extremely oblivious while walking and fail to see one of these enormous mufflers, you will slip and fall. 99.99% of mushroos are readily kicked over, and very few can withstand the slurping of an adult man or woman. This is speculation, and I have never fallen for it. However, if you are oblivious, the average human being is not up to the task of dealing with this monstrosity.

In contrast to the African Termiomyces ianicus, which is strictly restricted to soil until it bears fruit, Macrocystis ianicus grows directly from the ground in mature woodland and grassland ecosystems. Macrocystians are thought to live a solitary, saprophytic lifestyle, breaking down decaying organic matter into digestible sugars rather than being continuously fed a stream of woody debris from insects.

Yes, this is very clear given that I have also seen growing from leaves and mounds in scientific documentation. Because no ecologists or mycologists have examined this situation, I’m only speculating here, but the similarities between the two enormous species are actually very startling.

My theory is that other species evolved a mutualistic relationship with colony-forming insects. When compared to Macrocystis ians, which has a more generalized ecology and can carry out an interaction with leafcutter ants as well as live a solely saprophytic lifestyle, Termiomyces ianicus is a specialist that can only function with its exclusive host.

I’ll say it again: I’m surprised that researchers haven’t looked more closely at this instance. The two largest bushes on the aircraft are these. There is no probability that Macrocybe ians grow from leaf litter and mounds, notwithstanding the possibility. This, in my opinion, is the species’ ancestry. Let us elaborate.

In my Teriomyces ianicus article, I describe how a selection bias in favor of bigger individuals boosted the species’ diversity. Because of their reliance on a steady supply of an excellent food source (debris of wood and other materials), larger mushrooos of this species evolved.

The second explanation is due to the uneven distribution of human settlements in their unproductive African savannah ecologies. Contrary to leafcutter ants, which transport their fungus to a new location, reproducing yeast do not transport their fungus when they leave their old colonies and establish new ones. Over millions of years, more spores were produced by specialized fungi that created larger mushrooms. More spores produced equals greater odds of colonizing a fresh wound. Here’s where I start to get really interested.

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