2026-04-04

Spore Drop

Every new fungus on Earth, illustrated and explained — before anyone else.

Newly described fungal species — weekly curated digest with AI illustrations, distribution maps, and ecological context

Niche Explored

Newly Described Fungal Species — Automated Weekly Digest & Visual Catalog

Tracking and curating every newly described fungus species from scientific literature into a beautiful, accessible, visual format. The mycology/foraging space is exploding but nobody auto-curates new species discoveries.

Market Size & Audience Signals

r/mycology: ~369K members, consistent growth
r/mushroom: ~87K members
r/MushroomSupplements: ~26K members
Lion’s mane searches: 450% Google search growth (2024 data)
Functional mushroom market: Growing at 10.3% CAGR, multi-billion dollar market by 2030
Mushroom foraging trend: Steady growth across Google Trends since 2020, seasonal peaks in autumn
Continental MycoBlitz 2026: Active citizen science community, growing
FUNDIS (Fungal Diversity Survey): Active Substack, Rare Fungi Challenge programs expanding to new US regions in 2025-2026
Mycology journal output: MycoKeys alone publishes 100+ papers/year describing new species; dozens of other journals contribute

Existing Competition

novataxa.blogspot.com — Covers ALL new species (plants, animals, fungi, everything). Manual blog format, no images, bare bones. Not fungi-specific. Not beautiful.
FFungi.org — Nonprofit, education-focused. Blog with general mycology news, not species tracking.
Runner Hyphae (Substack) — Personal newsletter about fungal ecology. Small, informal, not automated or systematic.
Myconeer (Substack) — “Explore the hidden world of fungi.” General mycology, not new species tracking.
FUNDIS (Substack) — Fungal Diversity Survey newsletter. Conservation focused, quarterly.
MykoWeb / California Fungi — Regional focus, manual updates, classic web design.
Mushroom Observer — Community observation platform, not curated content.

GAP: Nobody does a beautiful, automated, weekly digest of newly described fungal species with AI-generated illustrations, distribution maps, ecological context, and phylogenetic trees. This is a clear whitespace.

Data Sources Found

Primary — Paper Discovery

CrossRef REST API — Free, no API key required. Search 140M+ scholarly works. Query for new species descriptions in mycology journals. Filter by journal ISSN, date range, title keywords (“sp. nov.”, “new species”). URL: https://api.crossref.org/works
MycoKeys (Pensoft) — Open access journal, 100+ papers/year on new fungal species. RSS feed available. Has hosted data portal with 9M+ occurrence records. URL: https://mycokeys.pensoft.net/
Phytotaxa — Major taxonomy journal, publishes many new fungi. RSS available. URL: https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/
Mycological Progress (Springer) — Open access new species papers. Springer Nature API available. URL: https://link.springer.com/journal/11557
MycoKeys, Fungal Diversity, Persoonia, Mycologia — All publish new species regularly

Secondary — Occurrence & Distribution Data

GBIF API — Free. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2.4B+ occurrence records. REST API for species lookups, occurrence data, distribution maps. URL: https://api.gbif.org/
iNaturalist API — Free. Community observations with photos. REST API for species observations, photos, locations. URL: https://api.inaturalist.org/
Mushroom Observer API — Free. Community mushroom observations with photos, names, locations. URL: https://mushroomobserver.org/api2/

Tertiary — Taxonomy & Nomenclature

MycoBank — Official fungal nomenclature database. New names registered here. URL: https://www.mycobank.org/
Index Fungorum — Species index for fungi nomenclature. URL: http://www.indexfungorum.org/
Species Fungorum — CABI species database. URL: http://www.speciesfungorum.org/

Image & Visual Generation

iNaturalist photos — CC-licensed community photos of related species (for context)
AI image generation — DALL-E / Stable Diffusion for artistic illustrations of new species based on paper descriptions
Mapbox / OpenStreetMap — Distribution maps showing where species were collected
D3.js / Chart.js — Phylogenetic tree visualizations, geographic heatmaps

SEO Analysis

Keywords with opportunity:
- “new mushroom species” — low competition, decent search volume
- “new fungi discovered” — low competition, growing interest
- “new fungal species 2026” — no dedicated content
- “[species name] sp. nov.” — zero competition for newly described species (first-mover on every new name)
- “mushroom species list” — medium competition but this site would be unique
- “rare mushrooms” — medium competition, high volume
- “mycology news” — low competition
Long-tail opportunity: Every new species name is a unique keyword with zero competition. If someone searches “Cortinarius yuanensis sp. nov.” — this site would be the only accessible result besides the paper itself.
Evergreen + timely: Each species page is evergreen content. Weekly digests drive repeat traffic.

Communities

r/mycology (369K) — Primary Reddit community
r/ShroomID — Identification requests, would link to species pages
r/mushroomID — Another ID community
Mushroom Observer forums — Active community
iNaturalist fungi community — Citizen science
FUNDIS / Fungal Diversity Survey — Conservation community
Facebook mushroom groups — Large groups (50K-200K members each)
Mycology Twitter/X — Active research community

Image/Graphic Feasibility

AI illustration of new species: HIGH feasibility — mushrooms are visually distinctive, papers include detailed morphological descriptions that translate well to image prompts. Can generate “scientific illustration style” images.
Distribution maps: HIGH feasibility — GBIF occurrence data + Mapbox. Auto-generate map for each species showing collection localities.
Phylogenetic context diagrams: MEDIUM feasibility — simplified visual showing where the new species fits among relatives.
“Stat cards”: HIGH feasibility — beautiful cards with key info (habitat, size, color, location, discoverer) like trading cards.

Monetization Signals

Functional mushroom affiliate programs: Lion’s mane, reishi, cordyceps supplements. Major brands have affiliate programs (Four Sigmatic, Real Mushrooms, Host Defense).
Mushroom foraging gear: Knives, baskets, field guides — Amazon affiliate.
Books: Mycology field guides, Paul Stamets books — affiliate links.
Premium newsletter: Deeper analysis, full phylogenetic context, printable species cards.
Patreon/Ko-fi: Mycology community is passionate and willing to support niche content.
Sponsored posts: Mycology companies, cultivation supply brands, lab equipment.