Welcome to The Lentinus Project! This project is based out of the Hibbett Lab at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. We are studying the mushroom Lentinus tigrinus, a water-associated gilled polypore found in North America and Europe. Lentinus tigrinus mushrooms in North America have evolved a “secotioid” morphology, where the gills are closed off at maturity. Interestingly, the gilled and secotioid forms coexist in North America.
What causes the secotioid form? What evolutionary pressures are driving the balance between the gilled and secotioid forms? What can this teach us about the evolution of other secotioid/gasteroid species (e.g. stinkhorns, puffballs, and truffles)? Our research on L. tigrinus seeks to answer these and many more questions.
To learn more about our project and how you can help, please explore our website! To get you started, here are some posts with background about our project:
