versicolor

After consulting her dermatologist, Simpson-Einziger was diagnosed with a temporary fungal infection called Tinea versicolor, which can lighten or darken skin pigmentation as a result of humidity.

He still had access to the university’s considerable research databases, which meant he could help her look up articles on Tinea versicolor.

“This is somebody who’s been looking at Tinea versicolor for decades,” Einziger said.

"From 2009 to 2022, we conducted a series of field surveys in South China and collected a number of specimens of the Calotes versicolor species complex, and found that the population of what we thought was Calotes versicolor in South China and Northern Vietnam was a new undescribed species and two subspecies," says Yong Huang, whose team described the new species.

It can also help control another fungal infection called tinea versicolor that causes discolored skin patches.