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When new species of fungi are discovered, they are typically named by the people who discovered them either with their own names or the name of someone they wish to honor – or torment.
The current issue of Mycologia, a journal devoted to fungi, features a newly discovered species of stinkhorn mushroom.
Apparently the scientists who discovered this mushroom (Professors Dennis Desjardin and Brian Perry of San Fransisco State University) decided to name it after a colleague (named Robert Drewes, Curator of Herpetology at California Academy of Scientist).
The new mushroom, Phallus drewesii, found on the African island of Sao Tome, is described as two-inches long, with a white net-like stem and brown spore-covered head. It grows on wood, has a foul odor like rotting meat, and unlike other members of the stinkhorn genus, Phallus drewesii curves downward, rather than upward.
Stinkhorns attract flies, which consume the spores and then disperse them.
Clearly Drewes has a sense of humor. I have no doubt that he’ll find a way to pay back his colleagues with a discovery in the world of herpetology.