Stegiacantha

Stegiacantha
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Polyporales
Family:	Meruliaceae
Genus:	Stegiacantha; Maas Geest. (1966)
Type species
	Stegiacantha petaloides; (Lloyd) Maas Geest. (1966)
Synonyms [1]
	Hydnum petaloidesLloyd (1913);

Last updated February 24, 2019

Stegiacantha is a fungal genus in the family Meruliaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Stegiacantha petaloides, found in Madagascar. This fungus was first described by American mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1913 as Hydnum petaloides.^[2] Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus circumscribed Stegiacantha to contain the fungus in 1966.^[1]

A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

The Meruliaceae are a family of fungi in the order Polyporales. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 47 genera and 420 species. As of April 2018, Index Fungorum accepts 645 species in the family.

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 kilometres off the coast of East Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian subcontinent around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population and other environmental threats.

Stegiacantha petaloides has an orbicular cap (in the shape of a flattened disc) measuring 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) in diameter, and a slender stipe. It has yellowish spines covering its hymenium.^[2]

The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium (hymenophore) may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus. A pileus is characteristic of agarics, boletes, some polypores, tooth fungi, and some ascomycetes.

In mycology, a stipe is the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal tissue. In many instances, however, the fertile hymenium extends down the stipe some distance. Fungi that have stipes are said to be stipitate.

The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some cells develop into sterile cells called cystidia (basidiomycetes) or paraphyses (ascomycetes). Cystidia are often important for microscopic identification. The subhymenium consists of the supportive hyphae from which the cells of the hymenium grow, beneath which is the hymenophoral trama, the hyphae that make up the mass of the hymenophore.

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The hydnoid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota with basidiocarps producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the genus Hydnum, but it is now known that not all hydnoid species are closely related.

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Hydnellum singeri is a tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. Found in Colombia, it was described as new to science in 1969 by Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus. The specific epithet honors Rolf Singer.

Phellodon plicatus is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. Found in Australia, it was first described in 1925 by Curtis Gates Lloyd as a species of Hydnum. Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus transferred it to the genus Phellodon in 1966.

Phellodon maliensis is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. Found in Australia, it was originally described as a new species by Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1923. It was originally placed in Hydnum, until Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus transferred it to the genus Phellodon in 1966.

Sarcodon aglaosoma is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. Found in Papua New Guinea, it was described as new to science in 1976 by Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus. It is quite similar to S. joeides and S. ianthinus, both also from New Guinea.

Sarcodon bubalinus is a European species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. First described by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1825 as Hydnum bubalinum, it was transferred to the genus Sarcodon by Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus in 1956.

Sarcodon illudens is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. It was described in 1976 by Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus, from collections made in France.

Sarcodon martioflavus is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae, found in Europe and North America. It was first described by Wally Snell, Kenneth A. Harrison, and Henry Jackson in 1962 as Hydnum martioflavum. Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus transferred it to the genus Sarcodon in 1964. He considered his Sarcodon armeniacus, described the year previously, to be a synonym. The fungus was originally described from collections made in Quebec and Nova Scotia, Canada, growing under spruce and balsam fir. It is considered vulnerable in Switzerland.

Sarcodon wrightii is a species of tooth fungus in the family Bankeraceae. It was first described in 1860 by Miles Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis as Hydnum wrightii. They were sent a specimen collected from Japan as part of the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition (1853–56). Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus transferred it to the genus Sarcodon in 1967. The fungus produces roughly spherical spores that are tuberculate and measure 5.5–6.5 by 4.5–5.5 μm.

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References

1 2 Maas Geesteranus, R.A. (1966). "Notes on Hydnums, IV". Proceedings van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Section C. 69: 317–333.
1 2 Lloyd, Curtis Gates (1913). "Letter 48". Mycological Writings. 4: 9.

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[Maas_Geesteranus_1966-1] 1 2 Maas Geesteranus, R.A. (1966). "Notes on Hydnums, IV". Proceedings van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Section C. 69: 317–333.

[Lloyd_1913-2] 1 2 Lloyd, Curtis Gates (1913). "Letter 48". Mycological Writings. 4: 9.