Related Research Articles
The Great Otway National Park, located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The 103,185-hectare (254,980-acre) national park is situated approximately 162 kilometres (101 mi) southwest of Melbourne. It contains a diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types and is situated within the Otway Ranges.
Armillaria, is a genus of fungi that includes the A. mellea species known as honey fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. It includes about 10 species formerly categorized summarily as A. mellea. Armillarias are long-lived and form some of the largest living organisms in the world. The largest known organism covers more than 3.4 square miles (8.8 km2) in Oregon's Malheur National Forest and is more than 2,400 years old. Some species of Armillaria display bioluminescence, resulting in foxfire.
Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruit bodies of several species of macrofungi. They can appear either below ground (hypogeous) or above ground (epigeous) where they may be picked by hand. Edibility may be defined by criteria that include absence of poisonous effects on humans and desirable taste and aroma.
In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome or basidioma is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do not produce such structures. As with other sporocarps, epigeous (above-ground) basidiocarps that are visible to the naked eye are commonly referred to as mushrooms, while hypogeous (underground) basidiocarps are usually called false truffles.
Chytridiomycosis is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, a non-hyphal zoosporic fungus. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or even extinctions of amphibian species in western North America, Central America, South America, eastern Australia, East Africa (Tanzania), and Dominica and Montserrat in the Caribbean. Much of the New World is also at risk of the disease arriving within the coming years. The fungus is capable of causing sporadic deaths in some amphibian populations and 100% mortality in others. No effective measure is known for control of the disease in wild populations. Various clinical signs are seen by individuals affected by the disease. A number of options are possible for controlling this disease-causing fungus, though none has proved to be feasible on a large scale. The disease has been proposed as a contributing factor to a global decline in amphibian populations that apparently has affected about 30% of the amphibian species of the world. Some research found evidence insufficient for linking chytrid fungi and chytridiomycosis to global amphibian declines, but more recent research establishes a connection and attributes the spread of the disease to its transmission through international trade routes into native ecosystems.
Index Fungorum is an international project to index all formal names in the fungus kingdom. As of 2015 the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Fungus gnats are small, dark, short-lived gnats, of the families Sciaridae, Diadocidiidae, Ditomyiidae, Keroplatidae, Bolitophilidae, and Mycetophilidae ; they comprise six of the seven families placed in the superfamily Sciaroidea.
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.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as Bd or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians.
The family Archeocrypticidae is a small group of beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name cryptic fungus beetles. Adults and larvae seems to be saprophagous and are often found in plant litter. Worldwide, about 10 genera and 50 species are found, most species are pantropical. Enneboeus caseyi has been recorded from the American South, Central America, and Mexico. About 20 species are found in Australia, in the genera Enneboeus and Australenneboeus.
The Keroplatidae are a family of small flies known as fungus gnats. About 950 species are described, but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher. They are generally forest dwellers found in the damp habitats favoured by their host fungi. They can also often be found in caves. Larvae both feed on fungi and are predatory - they can spin webs by secreting acid fluids, which they use to kill smaller invertebrates and capture spores. Some of the predatory larvae cannibalize pupa of their own species.
Armillaria luteobubalina, commonly known as the Australian honey fungus, is a species of mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae. Widely distributed in southern Australia, the fungus is responsible for a disease known as Armillaria root rot, a primary cause of Eucalyptus tree death and forest dieback. It is the most pathogenic and widespread of the six Armillaria species found in Australia. The fungus has also been collected in Argentina and Chile. Fruit bodies have cream- to tan-coloured caps that grow up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter and stems that measure up to 20 cm (8 in) long by 1.5 cm (1 in) thick. The fruit bodies, which appear at the base of infected trees and other woody plants in autumn (March–April), are edible, but require cooking to remove the bitter taste. The fungus is dispersed through spores produced on gills on the underside of the caps, and also by growing vegetatively through the root systems of host trees. The ability of the fungus to spread vegetatively is facilitated by an aerating system that allows it to efficiently diffuse oxygen through rhizomorphs—rootlike structures made of dense masses of hyphae.
Omphalotus nidiformis, or ghost fungus, is a gilled basidiomycete mushroom most notable for its bioluminescent properties. It is known to be found primarily in southern Australia and Tasmania, but was reported from India in 2012 and 2018. The fan or funnel shaped fruit bodies are up to 30 cm (12 in) across, with cream-coloured caps overlain with shades of orange, brown, purple, or bluish-black. The white or cream gills run down the length of the stipe, which is up to 8 cm (3 in) long and tapers in thickness to the base. The fungus is both saprotrophic and parasitic, and its fruit bodies are generally found growing in overlapping clusters on a wide variety of dead or dying trees.
Geotrichum candidum is a fungus which is a member of the human microbiome, notably associated with skin, sputum and feces where it occurs in 25–30% of specimens. It is common in soil and has been isolated from soil collected around the world, in all continents.
Aseroe rubra, commonly known as the anemone stinkhorn, sea anemone fungus and starfish fungus, is a common and widespread basidiomycete fungus recognizable for its foul odour of carrion and its sea anemone shape when mature. Found in gardens on mulch and in grassy areas, it resembles a red star-shaped structure covered in brownish slime on a white stalk. It attracts flies, which spread its spores.
Macrolepiota clelandii, commonly known as the slender parasol or graceful parasol, is a species of mushroom-forming fungus in the family Lepiotaceae. The species is found in Australia and New Zealand, where it fruits singly or in small groups on the ground in eucalypt woodlands, parks, and roadsides. It is a tall mushroom up to roughly 20 cm (8 in), with a broad cap covered with distinctive rings of dark brown scales. The whitish gills on the cap underside are closely spaced and free from attachment to the slender stipe, which has a loose ring on its upper half, and a bulbous base. The edibility of the mushroom is not known with certainty, but closely related parasol mushrooms are edible and some are very sought after.
Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin vermiculus meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of contexts for patterns that have little in common. The adjective vermiculated is more often used than the noun.
The State Herbarium of South Australia is located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is one of several State and Commonwealth herbaria in Australia. The Department for Environment and Water is the state agency which is responsible for the Herbarium, but the Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium is charged with its establishment and maintenance.
Saproamanita nauseosa is a species of agaric fungus in the family Amanitaceae. First described by English mycologist Elsie Maud Wakefield in 1918 as a species of Lepiota, it was named for its nauseating odor. The type specimen was found growing on soil in the Nepenthes greenhouse at Kew Gardens. Derek Reid transferred the species to Amanita in 1966, and then in 2016 the separate genus Saproamanita was created by Redhead et al. for saprophytic Amanitas and it was transferred to this new genus.
Morchella australiana is a species of ascomycete fungus in the family Morchellaceae. Described as new to science in 2014, it is found in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, Australia. The type locality was in the temperate Pilliga Scrub of northwestern New South Wales, west of the Great Dividing Range. Fruit bodies of the fungus resemble those of the European Morchella elata, but molecular and morphological analyses demonstrated that the Australian species represents a unique lineage.
