The Kenting National Park Administration Office yesterday announced the discovery of a new variety of fluorescent mushroom — Mycena kentingensis — becoming the ninth variety of fluorescent mushrooms recorded in Taiwan and the 74th in the world.
The mushroom was found when Shih Yu-shen (施雨伸), a graduate student from National Chung Hsing University’s Department of Life Sciences, was conducting a fluorescent mushroom classification survey in the national park area’s Sheding Nature Park (社頂自然公園).
After finding one known fluorescent mushroom — Mycena chlorophos — growing in the park, Shih came upon another one nearby and, after identifying its shape and conducting a DNA sequence, confirmed that this second mushroom was a new variety.
The pileus (cap) of the newly discovered full-grown Mycena kentingensis is only 3mm to 8mm wide, has tiny bumps on the surface of the pileus, and glows fluorescent green, the office said. Like the M chlorophos, M kentingensis glows fluorescent green from its pileus and hyphae, but has a smaller pileus and grows on withered branches, the office said.
It said that as the glowing mechanism of fluorescent mushrooms is still unknown, the research team has grown M kentingensis in the laboratory so it can be studied.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the