This is my first collaborative Fungus of the Month! This month's co-author, shown to the left, is Kelly Ivors, was (at the time this was written) a graduate student at Penn State University. Kelly has finished her Ph.D. project of identifying (through PCR and other methods) the bacterial and fungal associates important in composting, the first step in producing this month's fungus. You'll see the important role of composting in the production of these mushrooms further down the page. Kelly has finished her PhD and is now a postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley.