Episphaeria

Last updated

Episphaeria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Division:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Crepidotaceae?
(see text)
Genus:
Episphaeria

Donk (1962)
Type species
Episphaeria fraxinicola
(Berk. & Broome) Donk (1962)
Synonyms [1]
  • Cyphella fraxinicolaBerk. & Broome (1875)
  • Chaetocypha fraxinicola(Berk. & Broome) Kuntze (1891)
  • Phaeocyphella fraxinicola(Berk. & Broome) Rea (1922)

Episphaeria is a genus of fungus in the Agaricales. The genus is monotypic, and contains the single rare species Episphaeria fraxinicola, found in Europe. [2] Its familial position is not known with certainty. The tiny fruit bodies of the fungus resemble minute, white cups that grow scattered or in groups on the bark of ash trees.

Contents

Taxonomy and classification

The single species of Episphaeria was originally described under the name Cyphella fraxinicola by Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome in an 1875 publication. [3] Otto Kuntze transferred the species to Chaetocypha in 1891, [4] and Carleton Rea moved it to Phaeocyphella in 1922. [5] Marinus Anton Donk circumscribed Episphaeria in 1962 with E. fraxinicola as the type species. [6] The specific epithet fraxinicola is derived from Fraxinus meaning "ash" and "colo" meaning "I inhabit". [5]

The classification of Episphaeria with the Agaricales is not certain. Rolf Singer's 1986 The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy included the genus in the Crepidotaceae based on morphological similarity, [7] although that family as Singer envisioned it has since been shown with molecular analysis to be polyphyletic. [8] [9] The 10th edition of the Dictionary of the Fungi (2008) includes Episphaeria in the Inocybaceae, although they note that it may be appropriate for the Strophariaceae. [2] They also make no distinction between the families Inocybaceae and Crepidotaceae, but rather call them both Inocybaceae. In a classification with both families present, a placement of Episphaeria within Crepidotaceae is more appropriate. The online taxonomical database MycoBank lists it as part of the Strophariaceae, while Index Fungorum classifies it in the Inocybaceae. A 2010 publication designed to clarify circumscription and delimitation of the Crepidotaceae and related Agaricales families includes the genus in the Crepidotaceae, but without molecular support, as they were unable to obtain any sequence data from their material of E. fraxinicola. [10]

Description

The minute fruit bodies of Episphaeria fraxinicola are cyphelloid, meaning they resemble species of discomycetes (or "cup fungi") in the Ascomycota. The fruit bodies consist of caps that are 0.25–2 mm, white, circular or nearly so, and lay flat on the substrate without a stem. They grow scattered or in groups, and are covered on their external surface with short hairs. The hymenium (spore-bearing surface) is light yellow, but becomes pale-brownish-gray as the spores mature. The spores are pale olive in color, elliptical, and measure 6 by 4  μm. [5]

Habitat and distribution

Episphaeria fraxinicola is a rare wood-decay fungus. [11] It grows on the bark of ash trees ( Fraxinus species), [5] and prefers to grow on thin twigs at high heights. [11] It is known only from Europe; collections have been made in Austria, Denmark, England, Ireland, Norway, [12] and The Netherlands. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secotioid</span> Type of fungi

Secotioid fungi produce an intermediate fruiting body form that is between the mushroom-like hymenomycetes and the closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started but not run to completion. Secotioid fungi may or may not have opening caps, but in any case they often lack the vertical geotropic orientation of the hymenophore needed to allow the spores to be dispersed by wind, and the basidiospores are not forcibly discharged or otherwise prevented from being dispersed —note—some mycologists do not consider a species to be secotioid unless it has lost ballistospory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agaricales</span> Order of mushrooms

The Agaricales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. As originally conceived, the order contained all the agarics, but subsequent research has shown that not all agarics are closely related and some belong in other orders, such as the Russulales and Boletales. Conversely, DNA research has also shown that many non-agarics, including some of the clavarioid fungi and gasteroid fungi belong within the Agaricales. The order has 46 extant families, more than 400 genera, and over 25,000 described species, along with six extinct genera known only from the fossil record. Species in the Agaricales range from the familiar Agaricus bisporus and the deadly Amanita virosa to the coral-like Clavaria zollingeri and bracket-like Fistulina hepatica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strophariaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Strophariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Under an older classification, the family covered 18 genera and 1316 species. The species of Strophariaceae have red-brown to dark brown spore prints, while the spores themselves are smooth and have an apical germ pore. These agarics are also characterized by having a cutis-type pileipellis. Ecologically, all species in this group are saprotrophs, growing on various kinds of decaying organic matter. The family was circumscribed in 1946 by mycologists Rolf Singer and Alexander H. Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clavariaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Clavariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Originally the family contained most of the clavarioid fungi, but in its current sense is more restricted, albeit with a greater diversity of basidiocarp forms. Basidiocarps are variously clavarioid or agaricoid (mushroom-shaped), less commonly corticioid or hydnoid.

<i>Stropharia</i> Genus of fungi

The genus Stropharia is a group of medium to large agarics with a distinct membranous ring on the stipe. Well-known members of this genus include the edible Stropharia rugosoannulata and the blue-green verdigris agarics. Stropharia are not generally regarded as good to eat and there are doubts over the edibility of several species. However the species Stropharia rugosoannulata is regarded as prized and delicious when young and is now the premier mushroom for outdoor bed culture by mycophiles in temperate climates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crepidotaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Crepidotaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi.

<i>Phaeocollybia</i> Genus of fungi

Phaeocollybia is a genus of fungi in the family Hymenogastraceae. They are characterized by producing fruit bodies (mushrooms) with umbonate caps and rough brown spores. The genus is widely distributed, and contains about 50 species. They are known for a long stipe which continues down into the ground, known as a rooting stipe or pseudorhiza formed as the fruitbody grows up from the subterranean colonized roots well below the organic soil layer. The genus is primarily mycorrhizal but may also be somewhat parasitic on forest trees.

<i>Pholiota</i> Genus of mushrooms

Pholiota is a genus of small to medium-sized, fleshy mushrooms in the family Strophariaceae. They are saprobes that typically live on wood. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in temperate regions, and contains about 150 species.

<i>Mythicomyces</i> Genus of fungi

Mythicomyces is a fungal genus in the family Mythicomycetaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Mythicomyces corneipes, first described by Elias Fries in 1861. The fungus produces fruit bodies with shiny yellowish-orange to tawny caps that are 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) in diameter. These are supported by stems measuring 2–5.7 cm (0.8–2.2 in) long and 1–2 mm thick. A rare to uncommon species, it is found in northern temperate regions of North America and Europe, where it typically fruits in groups, in wet areas of coniferous forests. There are several species with which M. corneipes might be confused due to a comparable appearance or similar range and habitat, but microscopic characteristics can be used to reliably distinguish between them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inocybaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Inocybaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales, the largest order of mushroom-forming fungi. It is one of the larger families within Agaricales. This family exhibits an ectomycorrhizal ecology. Members of this family have a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate areas.

Limnoperdon is a fungal genus in the monotypic family Limnoperdaceae. The genus is also monotypic, as it contains a single species, the aquatic fungus Limnoperdon incarnatum. The species, described as new to science in 1976, produces fruit bodies that lack specialized structures such as a stem, cap and gills common in mushrooms. Rather, the fruit bodies—described as aquatic or floating puffballs—are small balls of loosely interwoven hyphae. The balls float on the surface of the water above submerged twigs. Experimental observations on the development of the fruit body, based on the growth on the fungus in pure culture, suggest that a thin strand of mycelium tethers the ball above water while it matures. Fruit bodies start out as a tuft of hyphae, then become cup-shaped, and eventually enclose around a single chamber that contains reddish spores. Initially discovered in a marsh in the state of Washington, the fungus has since been collected in Japan, South Africa, and Canada.

<i>Panellus</i> Genus of fungi

Panellus is a genus of more than 50 mushroom species of fungi in the family Mycenaceae as defined molecularly. Prior to molecular analyses the generic name had been used for any white-spored pleurotoid with amyloid spores. Unrelated but similar species are now classified in Sarcomyxa and Scytinotus. In older guides and other literature the type species had been placed in either Pleurotus or Panus and the poroid species had been classified in the synonymous genus Dictyopanus or in broadly defined genera like Polyporus (Polyporaceae) or the more closely allied Favolaschia (Mycenaceae). The closest molecular allies are Resinomycena and Cruentomycena.

<i>Flammulaster</i> Genus of fungi

Flammulaster is a genus of agaricoid fungi in the family Tubariaceae. It was formerly thought to belong in the family Inocybaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains 20 species. Flammulaster was circumscribed by American mycologist Franklin Sumner Earle in 1909.

<i>Phaeomarasmius</i> Genus of fungi

Phaeomarasmius is a genus of fungi in the family Tubariaceae. It was formerly thought to belong in the family Inocybaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains about 20 species.

<i>Podoserpula</i> Genus of fungi

Podoserpula is a genus of fungi in the family Amylocorticiaceae. The genus contains six species including the type species, P. pusio, commonly known as the pagoda fungus. Species of the genus Podoserpula produce fruit bodies consisting of up to a dozen caps arranged in overlapping shelves, attached to a central axis. Its unique shape is not known to exist in any other fungi. The genus is known to occur in Australia and New Zealand, Venezuela, Madagascar, and New Caledonia.

<i>Deconica</i> Genus of fungi

Deconica is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi in the family Strophariaceae. It was formerly considered synonymous with Psilocybe until molecular studies showed that genus to be polyphyletic, made of two major clades: one containing bluing, hallucinogenic species, the other non-bluing and non-hallucinogenic species. Deconica contains species formerly classified in the sections Deconica and Coprophila of Psilocybe.

<i>Pholiota nubigena</i> Species of fungus

Pholiota nubigena, commonly known as the gastroid pholiota or the bubble gum fungus, is a species of secotioid fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is found in mountainous areas of the western United States, where it grows on rotting conifer wood, often fir logs. It fruits in spring, often under snow, and early summer toward the end of the snowmelt period in high mountain forests. Fruit bodies appear similar to unopened mushrooms, measuring 1–4 centimetres tall with 1–2.4 cm diameter caps that are whitish to brownish. They have a short but distinct whitish stipe that extend through the internal spore mass (gleba) of the fruit body into the cap. The gleba consists of irregular chambers made of contorted gills that are brownish in color. A whitish, cottony partial veil is present in young specimens, but it often disappears in age and does not leave a ring on the stipe.

<i>Flammula</i> Genus of fungi

Flammula is a dark brown-spored genus of mushrooms that cause a decay of trees, on whose bases they often fruit, forming clusters of yellowish brown mushrooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tubariaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Tubariaceae is a family of basidiomycete fungi described by Alfredo Vizzini in 2008.

References

  1. "Episphaeria fraxinicola (Berk. & Broome) Donk 1962". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  2. 1 2 Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford, UK: CAB International. p. 69. ISBN   978-0-85199-826-8.
  3. Berkeley MJ, Broome CE (1875). "Notices of British fungi (1402–1500)". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 15: 28–41. doi:10.1080/00222937508681018.
  4. Kuntze O. (1891). Revisio Generum Plantarum (in German). Vol. 2. Leipzig, Germany: A. Felix. p. 847.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Rea C. (1922). British Basidiomycetae: A Handbook to the Larger British Fungi. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 704.
  6. Donk MA. (1962). "Notes on Cyphellaceae: 2". Persoonia. 2 (3): 331–48.
  7. Singer R. (1986). The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy (4th ed.). Königstein im Taunus, Germany: Koeltz Scientific Books. ISBN   3-87429-254-1.
  8. Moncalvo JM, Vilgalys R, Redhead SA, et al. (2002). "One hundred and seventeen clades of euagarics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 23 (3): 357–400. Bibcode:2002MolPE..23..357M. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00027-1. PMID   12099793.
  9. Matheny PB, Curtis JM, Hofstetter V, et al. (2006). "Major clades of Agaricales: a multilocus phylogenetic overview". Mycologia. 98 (6): 982–95. doi:10.3852/mycologia.98.6.982. PMID   17486974.
  10. Petersen G, Knudsen H, Seberg O (2010). "Alignment, clade robustness and fungal phylogenetics—Crepidotaceae and sister families revisited". Cladistics. 26 (1): 62–71. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2009.00279.x. PMID   34875756. S2CID   84495351.
  11. 1 2 Unterseher M, Tal O (2006). "Influence of small scale conditions on the diversity of wood decay fungi in a temperate, mixed deciduous forest canopy". Mycological Research. 110 (2): 169–78. doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2005.08.002. PMID   16388941.
  12. "Episphaeria fraxinicola (Berk. & Broome) Donk 1962". GBIF Portal. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 2011-03-08.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. Dam N, Dam-Elings M (1991). "Woldmaria crocea new-record and Episphaeria fraxinicola new-record small but nice". Coolia (in Dutch). 34 (1): 22–26.