| Mucronella | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mucronella bresadolae | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Clavariaceae |
| Genus: | Mucronella Fr. (1874) |
| Type species | |
| Mucronella calva | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Mucronella is a genus of fungi in the family Clavariaceae. Species in the genus resemble awl-shaped teeth that grow in groups without a common subiculum (supporting layer of mycelium).
The type species was originally named Hydnum calvum in a collaborative effort by the German botanist Johannes Baptista von Albertini and the American Lewis David de Schweinitz in 1805. [2] Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries transferred the species to the newly described genus Mucronella in 1874. [3]
Molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that the genus is monophyletic, and is sister to the remainder of the Clavariaceae, [4] confirming earlier suspicions that the taxa were phylogenetically related. [5] It had previously been placed in the Russulales due to its amyloid spores, and its morphological similarity to some members of genus Hericium . [4]
Fruitbodies of Mucronella species resemble hanging spines; they occur singly, scattered, or in groups. Colors range from white to yellow to orange. Mucronella has a monomitic hyphal system —consisting of only generative hyphae. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are four-spored and club shaped. Basidiospores are usually smooth with thin walls, weakly amyloid, and somewhat hyaline (translucent). [6] Mucronella is the sole genus in the Clavariaceae with amyloid spores, and with the "hanging spine" fruitbody morphology. [4]
Mucronella species are saprotrophic. [4] Kartar Singh Thind and I.P.S. Khurana identified five species from the northwestern Himalayas, India, in 1974: M. bresadolae , M. calva , M. flava , M. subalpina , and M. pulchra . [6]
As of August 2015 [update] , Index Fungorum accepts 17 species of Mucronella: [7]
