In biology, kingdom is the second highest taxonomic rank, just below domain. Kingdoms are divided into smaller groups called phyla. Traditionally, some textbooks from the United States and Canada used a system of six kingdoms while textbooks in Great Britain, India, Greece, Brazil and other countries use five kingdoms only. Some recent classifications based on modern cladistics have explicitly abandoned the term kingdom, noting that the traditional kingdoms are not monophyletic, meaning that they do not consist of all the descendants of a common ancestor.
The Boletaceae are a family of mushroom-forming fungi, primarily characterised by small pores on the spore-bearing hymenial surface, instead of gills as are found in most agarics. Nearly as widely distributed as the agarics, the family is renowned for hosting some prime edible species highly sought after by mushroom hunters worldwide, such as the cep or king bolete . A number of rare or threatened species are also present in the family, that have become the focus of increasing conservation concerns. As a whole, the typical members of the family are commonly known as boletes.
Meles is a genus of badgers containing four living species, the Japanese badger, Asian badger, Caucasian badger and European badger. In an older categorization, they were seen as a single species with three subspecies. There are also several extinct members of the genus. They are members of the subfamily Melinae of the weasel family, Mustelidae.
The genus Sciurus contains most of the common, bushy-tailed squirrels in North America, Europe, temperate Asia, Central America and South America.
Suillus is a genus of basidiomycete fungi in the family Suillaceae and order Boletales. Species in the genus are associated with trees in the pine family (Pinaceae), and are mostly distributed in temperate locations in the Northern Hemisphere, although some species have been introduced to the Southern Hemisphere.
Suillus luteus is a bolete fungus, and the type species of the genus Suillus. A common fungus native to Eurasia, from the British Isles to Korea, it has been introduced widely elsewhere, including North and South America, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Commonly referred to as slippery jack or sticky bun in English-speaking countries, its names refer to the brown cap, which is characteristically slimy in wet conditions. The fungus, initially described as Boletus luteus by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, is now classified in a different family as well as genus. Suillus luteus is edible, though not as highly regarded as other bolete mushrooms, and is commonly prepared and eaten in soups, stews or fried dishes. The slime coating, however, may cause indigestion if not removed before eating.
Suillus granulatus is a pored mushroom of the genus Suillus in the family Suillaceae. It is similar to the related S. luteus, but can be distinguished by its ringless stalk. Like S. luteus, it is an edible mushroom that often grows in a symbiosis (mycorrhiza) with pine. It has been commonly known as the weeping bolete, or the granulated bolete. Previously thought to exist in North America, that species has now been confirmed to be the rediscovered Suillus weaverae.
The genus Phallus, commonly known as stinkhorns, are a group of basidiomycetes which produce a phallic, often foul-scented, mushroom, from which their name is derived. The genus has a widespread distribution and, according to a 2008 estimate, contains 18 species. They belong to the family Phallaceae in the order Phallales. The best known species is the common stinkhorn.
Leymus arenarius is a psammophilic (sand-loving) species of grass in the family Poaceae, native to the coasts of Atlantic and Northern Europe. Leymus arenarius is commonly known as sand ryegrass, sea lyme grass, or simply lyme grass.
Hydnotrya is a genus of ascomycete fungi related to the false morels of the genus Gyromitra. There are about 15 species in the genus. A molecular phylogenetic study recovered a species that was described but neglected for 50 years, Hydnotrya bailii.
Albatrellus is a genus of 19 species of mushroom-producing fungi in the family Albatrellaceae. Species are common in northern temperate forests, producing medium to large fleshy fruit bodies of various colors.
Xerocomus subtomentosus, commonly known as suede bolete, brown and yellow bolet, boring brown bolete or yellow-cracked bolete, is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. The fungus was initially described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and known for many years as Boletus subtomentosus. It is edible, though not as highly regarded as other bolete mushrooms.
Geopora is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the family Pyronemataceae, currently with 13 described species. The genus was circumscribed by mycologist Harvey Willson Harkness in 1885. Molecular phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that the cup-like apothecial Geopora should better be placed back in a separate genus, Sepultaria. Geopora would then only comprise Geopora cooperi and its close relatives.
Gloeoporus is a genus of crust fungi in the family Irpicaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution.
Paraphaeosphaeria is a genus of fungi in the Didymosphaeriaceae family. The genus has 23 species found in Europe and North America. Anamorph forms are found in the genus Paraconiothyrium. The genus was circumscribed by O.E. Eriksson in 1967.
Hericium is a genus of edible mushrooms in the family Hericiaceae. Species in this genus are white and fleshy and grow on dead or dying wood; fruiting bodies resemble a mass of fragile icicle-like spines that are suspended from either a branched supporting framework or from a tough, unbranched cushion of tissue. This distinctive structure has earned Hericium species a variety of common names—monkey's head, lion's mane, and bear's head are examples. Taxonomically, this genus was previously placed within the order Aphyllophorales, but recent molecular studies now place it in the Russulales.
The gasteroid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota. Species were formerly placed in the obsolete class Gasteromycetes Fr., or the equally obsolete order Gasteromycetales Rea, because they produce spores inside their basidiocarps rather than on an outer surface. However, the class is polyphyletic, as such species—which include puffballs, earthstars, stinkhorns, and false truffles—are not closely related to each other. Because they are often studied as a group, it has been convenient to retain the informal (non-taxonomic) name of "gasteroid fungi".
Sarcodon thwaitesii is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. It is found in Asia, Europe, and New Zealand, where it fruits on the ground in mixed forest.
Joan Winifred Cribb is an Australian botanist and mycologist.
Fungal DNA barcoding is the process of identifying species of the biological kingdom Fungi through the amplification and sequencing of specific DNA sequences and their comparison with sequences deposited in a DNA barcode database such as the ISHAM reference database, or the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). In this attempt, DNA barcoding relies on universal genes that are ideally present in all fungi with the same degree of sequence variation. The interspecific variation, i.e., the variation between species, in the chosen DNA barcode gene should exceed the intraspecific (within-species) variation.
