Peru Cloud Forest Foray
Feb 24th - March 5th in Oxapampa, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Everyone is super excited for the new foray we are offering in Peru, and it shows! We are thrilled to have the chance to host a Mycena event further south of the equator than ever before.
Our favorite logistics point person Jeremy will be joining us for this one, given his extensive experience traveling in Peru. We are also collaborating with Sebastián, founder of Revolución Fungi, an organization that promotes fungi for food sovereignty, taxonomy, and cultural/spiritual connections in Peru. It empowers local communities through education, forays, and projects that highlight Amazonian and Andean fungal diversity. We are personally inspired by the work being done by Revolución Fungi, as a force for mycological progress in Latin America. Sebastián also holds permits in the Oxapampa region to collect fungi for DNA sequencing, which perfectly aligns with our research.
We are really excited about the people who have already signed up for this foray, its going to be a great group! Excited to announce we have participants from Australia, the UK, and the US are joining us so far. It will be really fun for us all to interact with Peruvian mycologists and mushroom enthusiasts at the RevoluciĂłn Fungi Fest, which is being held in the Oxapampa city center over the weekend of February 27th - March 1st.
Biodiversity in Oxapampa
Oxampampa is one of the most biodiverse regions in Peru. We are including just some of the biodiversity of different groups here:
Fungi
Check out some of the cool fungi observed in Oxapampa on iNaturalist:
Plants
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Oxapampa is a tropical Andes hotspot with high plant endemism (>50% endemic species)
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New species recently described including a beautiful deep purple Brachionidium orchid (see below) and a species of Polylepis
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Diverse epiphytes, lianas, shrubs, and trees across forest gradients
Birds
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Half of all bird species in Peru can be found in this region, including the iconic harpy eagle, Harpia harpyja
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Also host to endemic/range-restricted species like Andean cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola peruvianus
Mammals
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Large vertebrates that call Oxapampa home are jaguars (Panthera onca), spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus), South American tapirs (Tapirus terrestris), and white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari)
Amphibians
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The frog Ctenophryne barbatula is known only from this reserve
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Many other species too, this is one of Peru’s amphibian hotspots
If you’re planning on coming to Peru (or even wondering about the opportunity!) please email us at [email protected] OR fill out the questionnaire so that we can get in contact with you. This helps us get a better idea of the group number in order to secure accommodations in advance of the event. Click the button below to visit the website and find out all the details.
We hope you can join us in the Southern Hemisphere!!
Peru Peaks & Pathways Tour - ON HOLD
In our last newsletter, we announced a trip to the Inca Trail. However, after deeper research we realized that February/March is not a good time to visit the Inca Trail because of yearly maintenance and flooding concerns in the region. Landslides can make transportation impossible during this time of year, and the potential delays are something we don’t want our participants to experience. The same thing (rain!) that makes the cloud forests of Oxapampa desirable, also makes the Inca Trail unmanageable. We still plan to host this second event, either later in 2026 or early in 2027, so stay tuned!
Ecuador 2026 Foray - SOLD OUT!
We are happy to announce that the Ecuador Adventure Foray completely sold out this year! Given the success of this event over the last few years, it’s highly likely we will bring this event back in 2027. If you didn’t get your ticket in time, you might still be in luck next year, though we never make promises until the event is officially announced. If you want to get in on the adventure sooner, please consider joining us in Peru at the end of February!
New Mycena LED Magnifying Loupes
We have a new product! Professional-grade 10x magnifying loupes featuring a high-clarity 22mm optical glass lens and four light sources: three white LEDs for true-color viewing and UV for fluorescence detection. The rechargeable USB-C design ensures portability without battery swaps. The lightweight aluminum alloy loupes come with a cleaning cloth, charging cable, and carrying pouch, and are ideal for scientific fieldwork. Cost is $25 with $5 shipping. All participants on our Ecuador and Peru forays will get a complementary loupe for their field studies.
iNaturalist Voucher Label Generator
Alan created a website using Python and the iNaturalist API to create professional grade herbarium labels with QR codes for your iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer observations. Now you can create labels by observation number - or specify a username and date range and this program will make labels for everything you found. Try it out by using your phone to scan the QR code on the sample label below, or make your own clicking on the button
Winter Mycoblitz - Free DNA Barcoding
The Winter Mycoblitz just wrapped up, so if you found any mushrooms Jan 2nd - Jan 19th, 2026 you can send any number of samples, collected from anywhere in the world, to Mycota Lab for free DNA barcoding. A small, well-dried piece of mushroom cap (about 1 mg) is used for sequencing, the rest is preserved in the MYCO herbarium. Results will be added to your iNaturalist observation, and someone will identify your find using the DNA data. Remember to mark each dried mushroom with the iNaturalist observation number - a perfect opportunity to use the label generator, since the QR code simplifies data entry at the lab. For the address and more info, click the button. The next free sequencing opportunity is the Summer Mycoblitz, July 31st - August 9th.
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