Deadly fungus native to Japan and Korea discovered in Australian rainforest

Poison fire coral, the only known fungus whose toxins are absorbed through the skin, found on the outskirts of Cairns

One of the world's deadliest species of fungus, previously thought native to Japan and Korea, has been found by a photographer on the outskirts of Cairns in northern Australia.

Scientists say the discovery of poison fire coral in a pocket of rainforest in Redlynch, a Cairns suburb, indicates the fungus likely occurs naturally in other parts of Australia and south-east Asia.