Dimitar Bojantchev
From Informed Collector to Professional Mycological Contributor

Dimitar Bojantchev will share his path from amateur to informed collector, and onward to professional contributor to science. He is a leading taxonomist of macrofungi in California and the Western United States with an emphasis on the largest genera of Cortinarius and Russula.

Dimitar has regularly served as a lead identifier at various club events, mushroom fairs, forays, and other mycological forums as well as being an invited speaker at various clubs.
He has led classes on diverse subjects like molecular phylogenetics, fungal microscopy, fungi of the genus Cortinarius, appreciation of macro-fungi, and other topics.

• Dimitar will share a bit of the history of his work, and his current projects
• He will discuss molecular methods for those who want to reach the next level
• And we'll will look at some of the species which he has described and others that will be described soon.

Dimitar holds a BS degree in Computer Science and runs a Software Development Consulting Services firm, Pontix Consulting, Inc.
His avocation is the study of mycology. Dimitar has authored numerous published papers and described more than 45 new species. Currently, he is working on several new manuscripts.


Cortinarius archeri mushroom with ring zone
[Image source: Wikimedia Commons, Attribution 4.0 International license.
Original file iNaturalist]