Fungus Rise After Dinosaur Extinction

Genomic dating links a newly described giant decomposer fungus (Dianjunus rex) to about 65 million years ago, suggesting that some fungal lineages expanded or evolved large fruiting bodies in direct response to the flood of dead plant material after the end‑Cretaceous extinction. Large, lignin‑degrading fungi could have meaningfully altered post‑extinction carbon processing and forest regeneration, and their enzymes may hold modern biotechnical value. — If mass extinctions open ecological niches for decomposers that substantially change carbon flows, that affects paleobiology narratives and could inform modern biotech and carbon‑cycle thinking.