University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark scientists have discover new species of parasitic fungus via Twitter. The newly discovered fungus was named “Troglomyces twitteri”, after Twitter.
The discovery was made by the biologist and associate professor Ana Sofia Reboleira of the National Natural History Museum.
She stumbled upon a photo of a North American millipede shared by US colleague Derek Hennen of Virginia Tech on Twitter in 2018. The researcher spotted a few tiny dots on the North American millipede.
The photo of the millipede had tiny dots it looked like Fungi. The Fungi belongs to the order called Laboulbeniales. The fungi resemble larvae. These fungi attack insects and millipedes. More than 30 different species of fungi that attack the millipedes.