Tom May (mycologist)


Thomas William May is a mycologist at the National Herbarium of Victoria where he specialises in the taxonomy and ecology of Australian macrofungi. He is most notable for the comprehensive bibliographical lists of all Australian fungi published thus far; Volume 2A, published in 1997, and Volume 2B, published in 2003. as well as the originator of Fungimap, an Australia-wide mapping fungal mapping scheme based on observations of 100 easily identified macrofungi. May was awarded the 2014 Australian Natural History Medallion. In 2023 May was awarded the Nancy T. Burbidge Medal from the Australasian Systematic Botany Society.
May has appeared in documentary films including The Giants and Follow the Rain and has published over 100 refereed articles as well as contributing extensively to non-refereed publications. May has been appeared as an expert witness, including during the Leongatha mushroom murders in 2025.
WWW Official Site

Mycological collections

Specimens collected by May are primarily held in the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, with smaller collections at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, National Herbarium of New South Wales and elsewhere in Australia.