Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences said Thursday they have discovered eight new macrofungi species in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan.

The fungi, found in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, belongs to the Xylaria genus. It 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 2,212 specimens, showing the diversity of resources in the park.

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

(Cover image via VCG: Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park)

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