Megachile rotundata, the alfalfa leafcutting bee, is a European bee that has been introduced to various regions around the world. As a solitary bee species, it does not build colonies or store honey, but is a very efficient pollinator of alfalfa, carrots, other vegetables, and some fruits. Because of this, farmers often use M. rotundata as a pollination aid by distributing M. rotundata prepupae around their crops. Each female constructs and provisions her own nest, which is built in old trees or log tunnels. Being a leafcutter bee, these nests are lined with cut leaves. These bees feed on pollen and nectar and display sexual dimorphism. This species has been known to bite and sting, but it poses no overall danger unless it is threatened or harmed, and its sting has been described as half as painful as a honey bee's.
Crepidotus versutus, commonly known as the evasive agaric, is a species of fungus in the family Crepidotaceae. It is saprobic on wood, like other Crepidotus species, but it can also decompose herbaceous forest litter. The species is characterized by large, punctate, ellipsoid spores, and the white, hairy pileus.
Roccella is a genus of 23 species of lichens in the family Roccellaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1805, with Roccella fuciformis as the type species.
Microsporum gypseum is a soil-associated dermatophyte that occasionally is known to colonise and infect the upper dead layers of the skin of mammals. The name refers to an asexual "form-taxon" that has been associated with four related biological species of fungi: the pathogenic taxa Arthroderma incurvatum, A. gypsea, A. fulva and the non-pathogenic saprotroph A. corniculata. More recent studies have restricted M. gypseum to two teleomorphic species A. gypseum and A. incurvatum. The conidial states of A. fulva and A. corniculata have been assigned to M. fulvum and M. boullardii. Because the anamorphic states of these fungi are so similar, they can be identified reliably only by mating. Two mating strains have been discovered, "+" and "–". The classification of this species has been based on the characteristically rough-walled, blunt, club-shaped, multicelled macroconidia. Synonyms include Achorion gypseum, Microsporum flavescens, M. scorteum, and M. xanthodes. There has been past nomenclatural confusion in the usage of the generic names Microsporum and Microsporon.
Chlamydosauromyces punctatus is the sole species in the monotypic genus of fungi, Chlamydosauromyces in the family, Onygenaceae. It was found in the skin shed from frilled lizard. This fungus is mesophilic and digests hair. It reproduces both sexually and asexually. The fungus has so far not been reported to be pathogenic.
Ascosphaera is a genus of fungi in the family Ascosphaeraceae. It was described in 1955 by mycologists Charles F. Spiltoir and Lindsay S. Olive. Members of the genus are insect pathogens. The type species, A. apis, causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees. The reproductive ascospores of the fungus are produced within a unique structure, the spore cyst, or sporocyst.
Pulveroboletus bembae is a species of fungus in the family Boletaceae that was first described in 2009. It is known only from the rainforest of northern Gabon, a region known for its high level of species diversity. Like all boletes, P. bembae has fleshy fruit bodies that form spores in tubes perpendicular to the ground on the underside of the cap. These yellowish tubes form a surface of pores, each about 1–2 mm in diameter. The brownish caps may reach up to 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide, and rest atop pale brown stems up to 5.5 cm (2.2 in) long. The stems have a woolly, whitish yellow ring of tissue that is short-lived, and may be absent in older specimens. The spores of P. bembae are spindle- or fuse-shaped, and have rough surfaces—a detail observable when viewed with scanning electron microscopy. The fungus grows in a mycorrhizal relationship with Gilbertiodendron dewevrei, the dominant tree species of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest. Other similar Pulveroboletus species in the area include P. annulus and P. croceus, which may be differentiated from P. bembae by a combination of macro- and microscopic characteristics.
The California carpenter bee or Western carpenter bee, Xylocopa californica, is a species of carpenter bee in the order Hymenoptera, and it is native to western North America.
The alkali bee, Nomia melanderi, is a ground-nesting bee native to deserts and semi-arid desert basins of the western United States. It was described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell in 1906. While solitary, these bees nest near each other and can form extremely dense aggregations in areas with favorable conditions.
Amanita ravenelii, commonly known as the pinecone lepidella, is a species of fungus in the family Amanitaceae. The whitish fruit bodies are medium to large, with caps up to 17 centimetres wide, and stems up to 25 cm (10 in) long. The cap surface has large warts and the stem has a scaly, bulbous base. The mushrooms have a unique chlorine like odor.
Mycena intersecta is a species of mushroom in the family Mycenaceae. First reported as a new species in 2007, it is known only from central Honshu, in Japan, where it is found growing solitarily or scattered, on dead leaves in lowland forests dominated by oak. The mushrooms have olive-brown caps up to 12 mm (0.47 in) in diameter atop slender stems that are 50 to 80 mm long by 0.7 to 1.2 mm thick. On the underside of the cap are the distantly spaced, whitish gills that have cross-veins running between them. Microscopic characteristics of the mushroom include the smooth, irregularly cylindrical cheilocystidia, the absence of pleurocystidia, the diverticulate elements of the cap cuticle, the broadly club-shaped to irregularly shaped caulocystidia, the weakly dextrinoid flesh, and the absence of clamp connections. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown.
Aseroe coccinea is a species of stinkhorn fungus in the genus Aseroe. First reported in Japan in 1989, it was not formally validated as a species until 2007, the delay related to a publication error. The receptacle, or fruit body, begins as a partially buried whitish egg-shaped structure, which bursts open as a hollow white stipe with reddish arms, then erupts and grows to a height of up to 15 mm (0.6 in). It matures into a star-shaped structure with seven to nine thin reddish tubular "arms" up to 10 mm (0.4 in) long radiating from the central area. The top of the receptacle is covered with dark olive-brown spore-slime, or gleba. A. coccinea can be distinguished from the more common species A. rubra by differences in the color of the receptacle, and in the structure of the arms. The edibility of the fungus has not been reported.
Lepiota harithaka is an agaric mushroom of the genus Lepiota in the order Agaricales. It was described as new to science in 2009. Found in Kerala State, India, fruit bodies of the fungus grow on the ground among bamboo roots.
Boletus abruptibulbus is a species of bolete mushroom in the family Boletaceae. Described as new to science in 2009, it is found only in the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle, where it grows on the ground in coastal sand dunes, one of only three North American boletes known to favor this habitat. The fruit bodies have convex brownish caps up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in diameter, supported by solid yellowish to reddish stems measuring 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long by 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) thick. The pores on the underside of the cap measure about 1–2 mm in diameter and are initially pale yellow before developing a greenish tinge in age. The mushroom's spores, about 20 micrometers long, are unusually long for a member of the Boletaceae. The stem base is bulbous, a diagnostic feature for which the species is named.
Thielavia subthermophila is a ubiquitous, filamentous fungus that is a member of the phylum Ascomycota and order Sordariales. Known to be found on plants of arid environments, it is an endophyte with thermophilic properties, and possesses dense, pigmented mycelium. Thielavia subthermophila has rarely been identified as a human pathogen, with a small number of clinical cases including ocular and brain infections. For treatment, antifungal drugs such as amphotericin B have been used topically or intravenously, depending upon the condition.
Amauroascus kuehnii is a fungus in the phylum Ascomycota, class Eurotiomycetes. It is keratinophilic but not known to cause any human disease. It has been isolated from animal dungs, soil, and keratinous surfaces of live or deceased animals.
Keratinophyton durum is a keratinophilic fungus, that grows on keratin found in decomposing or shed animal hair and bird feathers. Various studies conducted in Canada, Japan, India, Spain, Poland, Ivory Coast and Iraq have isolated this fungus from decomposing animal hair and bird feathers using SDA and hair-bait technique. Presence of fungus in soil sediments and their ability to decompose hairs make them a potential human pathogen.
Botryotrichum piluliferum is a fungal species first identified in 1885 by Saccardo and Marchal. It was discovered to be the asexual state of a member of the ascomycete genus, Chaetomium. The name B. piluliferum now applies to the fungus in all its states. B. piluliferum has been found worldwide in a wide range of habitats such as animal dung and vegetation. The colonies of this fungus start off white and grow rapidly to a brown colour. The conidia are smooth and white. B. piluliferum grows optimally at a temperature of 25-30 °C and a pH of 5.5.
Ascosphaera aggregata is a species of fungus.
Opegrapha ramisorediata is a rare species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Opegraphaceae. Known to occur only in northeastern Brazil, it was described as a new species in 2017. It is characterised by a thin, pale greenish-mauve thallus.
