Scientists discover new fungi species on Twitter, name it after Twitter

Team Udayavani, May 17, 2020, 4:12 PM IST

A new species has been discovered on Twitter. It is said to be a type of parasitic fungus and it is named Troglomyces twitteri

According to the study, published in the journal MycoKeys, professor Ana Sofia Reboleira of the National Natural History Museum spotted an image of a millipede while scrolling through Twitter and noticed a few tiny dots near the creature’s head, something that has never been seen on the American millipedes.

Ana Sofia Reboleira, said “I could see something looking like fungi on the surface of the millipede. Until then, these fungi had never been found on American millipedes. So, I went to my colleague and showed him the image. That’s when we ran down to the museum’s collections and began digging,”

Derek Hennen had shared the image in 2018, as a part of a collection of millipede photos posted by him on Twitter. Reboleira discovered the image and having been intrigued by it, went on a hunt for the species in previously undocumented fungus.