''Termitomyces titanicus'' (common name chi-ngulu-ngulu) is a species of edible

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

in the

Lyophyllaceae The Lyophyllaceae is a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. A 2008 estimate indicated eight genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil orga ...

family. Found in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

(as well as

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and the

Katanga Province Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika Province, Tanganyika, Hau ...

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

), it has a cap that may reach 1 metre (3 ft) in diameter on a stipe up to 57 centimetres (22 inches) in length. ''Termitomyces'' is symbiotic with termites of the genus '' Macrotermes'' who raise the

hyphae A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

upon partially digested leaves as their primary foodstuff. ''T. titanicus'' was unknown to Western science until an article by David Pegler and G. D. Pearce published in the ''

Kew Bulletin The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

'' in 1980, even though it was a common item in the native markets. Pegler and Piearce made no attempt to explain its late discovery.Pegler and Piearce KEW BULL. loc. cit.

References

Lyophyllaceae Edible fungi Fungi of Africa Fungi described in 1980 Fungus species {{Agaricales-stub