Endangered fungus discovered in Brook Waimarama Sanctuary

Sunday, 6 December 2020

The Brook Waimarama Sanctuary chief exec Ru Collin said he believed the discovery of the rare Fischer's egg fungus was “a measure of how the environment is starting to restore itself”.

An endangered fungus with declining numbers and only about 850 known living specimens has been discovered in the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary.

Fischer’s egg fungus, Claustula fischeri, is found in Tasmania, Gore, and Nelson, but has never been found inside the Brook Sanctuary before. It is listed as endangered and in decline by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and is listed by DOC as Nationally Critical.

Brook Sanctuary chief executive Ru Collin said the discovery, which was made by two volunteers, was “just wonderful”.

“These things are so threatened, mycologists were quite shocked that this was found,” he said.

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Two volunteers in the Brook Sanctuary discovered one of New Zealand's rarest fungi, the Fischer's egg, which has a distinctive white egg-shaped fruiting body covered by a brown skin.

“They spent quite a bit of time confirming what they had seen, it’s not like people were walking around looking for it.

“I think it’s just a measure of how the environment [in the sanctuary] is starting to restore itself.

“I think what we're going to see is more of these lost plants showing up, especially now that grazing animals have been removed.”

Collin said the discovery was made by two volunteers, Chris Turton and Wayne Hennessy, who were on part of the 120km worth of narrow conservation tracks not open to the public.

“[The fungi were] reasonably high up in the sanctuary, so it's not like the public is going to stumble into them.”

He said this was at least the third rare or “lost” species to have been found or flourished inside the sanctuary, the others being a type of orchid and mistletoe which he said was to possums as catnip was to cats.

Collin said while the rare fungi was quite far off the beaten track for the public, it was a good idea to keep an eye out for any unfamiliar plants in the sanctuary.

“People can keep an eye out for plants, and if they send in a picture of it to us we will see if we can identify it. This [fungus find] was a classic case of that, some volunteers out for something unrelated saw something unfamiliar and took photos.”