Each new species is a data point; enough data points begin to sketch the true shape of a family.
In the ancient groves of central Portugal, where strawberry trees have fruited for centuries, science has quietly expanded its map of the living world. Researchers at the University of Minho have formally named a previously unknown fungus — Banningia arbuti — isolated from the berries of Arbutus unedo, doubling the known species of its genus and illuminating a poorly understood corner of the fungal kingdom. The discovery, registered in a peer-reviewed international journal, is a reminder that even familiar landscapes still harbor life that has never been formally witnessed by human knowledge.
- A fungus living unnoticed on the fruit of a centuries-old Mediterranean tree has now been given a name, a lineage, and a place in the permanent scientific record.
- Before this work, the entire genus Banningia was represented by a single known species worldwide — this discovery instantly doubles that count and forces a rethinking of the genus's boundaries.
- The Saccotheciaceae family remains one of mycology's blind spots, and each new species found within it is a rare data point helping researchers sketch the true shape of an understudied lineage.
- A team of six scientists, working across two Portuguese institutions, deployed morphological, molecular, and biochemical analysis to confirm what field collection alone could not — that this organism was genuinely new to science.
- The specimen now rests in UMinho's Mycotheca, a certified international repository, where it becomes a living resource available to researchers and biotechnologists across the world.
Near Oleiros, in the Portuguese district of Castelo Branco, researchers from the University of Minho's Mycotheca collected berries from the strawberry tree — Arbutus unedo — a gnarled Mediterranean species long prized for its tart fruit and bioactive compounds. From those samples, they cultured and identified an organism that science had never formally named: Banningia arbuti, a fungus now registered in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology and permanently entered into the scientific record.
The discovery carries weight beyond the novelty of a new name. Until this work, the genus Banningia was known to contain only one species in the entire world. This find doubles that count and, crucially, allows researchers to better define the genus itself — its characteristics, its limits, and its place within the Saccotheciaceae family, a fungal lineage that remains poorly understood. Each confirmed species is a data point; enough of them begin to reveal the true shape of a family.
The team — João Trovão, Nelson Lima, Joana Domingues, Célia Soares, Carla Santos, and Cristina Pintado — worked in collaboration with the Agricultural School of the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute. Nelson Lima, who directs the Mycotheca and serves as president of the World Federation of Culture Collections, was recently recognized for his career contributions at an international conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
The Mycotheca itself is no ordinary archive. Founded three decades ago, it houses thousands of fungal specimens, holds certification as an official depositary for microorganisms involved in patented processes, and serves as Portugal's node within the European Research Infrastructure for Microbial Resources. It is simultaneously a living library and a working laboratory — preserving biodiversity while making it available for research and industrial application.
Banningia arbuti is now stored there, accessible to scientists anywhere in the world. What was once an unnamed organism on a familiar fruit has become a catalogued resource, waiting to reveal what it might yet offer.
In the strawberry tree groves near Oleiros, in the central Portuguese district of Castelo Branco, researchers at the University of Minho's Mycotheca have identified a fungus that science had never formally named before. The organism, now designated Banningia arbuti, was isolated from the berries of the Arbutus unedo—the strawberry tree itself—a gnarled Mediterranean species whose reddish, tart-sweet fruit has been fermented into brandy for centuries and is dense with bioactive compounds.
The discovery emerged from a straightforward piece of microbiological detective work. Scientists collected samples from the fruit, cultured them, and then subjected the isolate to the full forensic toolkit: morphological examination under the microscope, molecular genetic sequencing, and biochemical profiling. What they found warranted publication in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, a peer-reviewed venue where such identifications are formally registered and made permanent in the scientific record.
The significance of this particular find lies partly in what it reveals about an entire fungal lineage. Before this work, the genus Banningia was known to contain only a single species worldwide. The new discovery doubles that count and, more importantly, allows researchers to clarify the genus itself—to understand its boundaries, its characteristics, and its place within the larger family Saccotheciaceae, a group of fungi that remains poorly understood by science. Each new species is a data point; enough data points begin to sketch the true shape of a family.
The research team—João Trovão, Nelson Lima, Joana Domingues, Célia Soares, Carla Santos, and Cristina Pintado—worked in partnership with the Agricultural School of the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute. Nelson Lima, who directs the Mycotheca, is also president of the World Federation of Culture Collections, a position that underscores the institution's standing in the global microbiology community. He was recently honored for his career and contributions at an international conference on microbial identification in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
The Mycotheca itself is a repository of consequence. Founded three decades ago, it now houses thousands of fungal specimens, maintains the highest certification standards, and operates with cutting-edge equipment. It holds the status of official depositary for microorganisms involved in patented processes—a designation granted by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The institution also serves as the Portuguese node of MIRRI-PT, the European Research Infrastructure for Microbial Resources, funded by the European Union. In essence, it is both a living library and a working laboratory, a place where biodiversity is preserved and made available for research and industrial application.
The newly identified fungus is now stored there, accessible to researchers anywhere in the world who wish to study it further. That availability matters. Microbial collections like the Mycotheca serve a dual purpose: they safeguard biological diversity against loss, and they create the conditions for that diversity to be put to use—whether in understanding how ecosystems function or in developing new biotechnologies that might address human needs. The strawberry tree fungus, in other words, is no longer simply a curiosity. It is a resource, catalogued and preserved, waiting to reveal what it might do.
Notable Quotes
This discovery demonstrates the importance of microbial collections in preserving biodiversity and our role as an international reference infrastructure for fungal identification and study.— Nelson Lima, director of the Mycotheca
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does finding one more fungus species in a fruit matter enough to publish it?
Because it's the first formal identification of this particular organism, and it doubles what we knew about an entire genus. Science works by cataloguing and naming. Until you name something, you can't study it systematically or build knowledge around it.
But there are millions of fungi. Aren't we discovering new species all the time?
We are, yes. But this one belongs to a family—Saccotheciaceae—that's barely been studied. Each new species in an understudied group is like finding another piece of a puzzle you didn't know was incomplete.
What happens to it now that it's been named and published?
It gets stored in the Mycotheca at the University of Minho, where it's preserved and made available to any researcher in the world who wants to work with it. It could be used to understand fungal ecology, or it might have biotechnological applications nobody's thought of yet.
So this is partly about preservation?
Absolutely. Microbial collections are like seed banks, but for fungi and bacteria. They protect biodiversity and create the infrastructure for future discovery. Without places like the Mycotheca, these organisms would be lost.
Does the strawberry tree itself matter to the story, or is it just where they happened to find the fungus?
It matters contextually. The strawberry tree is emblematic of the Mediterranean basin, and its fruit has cultural and economic significance—people make brandy from it, it's rich in bioactive compounds. Finding a new fungus on it suggests there's still a lot we don't know about even well-known plants and their microbial associates.