List of bioluminescent fungi

[5] Armillaria mellea is the most widely distributed of the luminescent fungi, found across Asia, Europe, North America, and South Africa.

Bioluminescence is an oxygen-dependent metabolic process and therefore may provide antioxidant protection against the potentially damaging effects of reactive oxygen species produced during wood decay.

It has been suggested that in the dark beneath closed tropical forest canopies, bioluminescent fruit bodies may be at an advantage by attracting grazing animals (including insects and other arthropods) that could help disperse their spores.

Conversely, where mycelium (and vegetative structures like rhizomorphs and sclerotia) are the bioluminescent tissues, the argument has been made that light emission could deter grazing.

[10] The following list of bioluminescent mushrooms is based on a 2008 literature survey by Dennis Desjardin and colleagues,[11] in addition to accounts of several new species published since then.