http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/amazingspecies/pleurotus-nebrodensis.pdf

Please find Pleurotus nebrodensis featured here at the most amazing etc species site for threatened species under the IUCN umbrella

Two fungi in top ten, 2011

The International Institute of Species Exploration (Arizona State University) each year publishes a list of the ten most astonishing species described during the year. For the 2011 list, two fungi were included: Mycena luxaeterne and Psathyrella aquatica.

Mycena luxaeterna Desjardin, B.A. Perry & Stevani is a strongly bioluminescent agaric described from Brazil (Desjardin, D.E., B.A. Perry, D.J. Lodge, C.V. Stevani, and E. Nagasawa. 2010. Luminescent Mycena: new and noteworthy species. Mycologia 102(2):459- 477. LINK).

Psathyrella aquatica R.A. Coffan, J.L. Frank & D. Southw. is a species of Psathyrella apparently growing under water in a river i Oregon (Aquatic gilled mushrooms: Psathyrella fruiting in the Rogue River in southern Oregon. Mycologia 102(1): 93-107 LINK. -- alas, behind a paywall).

Candidates for the next list can be nominated here.

BMS spring foray 4 – Fuscolachnum misllum

We were working hard on dead leaves of Rubus fructicosus to find Mollisina rubi. This turned up to be a hard job which gave all sorts of unexpected results. The most common fungus was Fuscolachnum misellum:

There was also Pyrenopeziza maculans an undescibed Naeviopsis, an undescribed Vibrissea, Calycellina indumenticola, Echinula asteriadiformis, Mollisina oedema and at last Mollisina rubi:

Rubus may hurt your fingers but there are rewards in the end . . .

Pyrenomycete from coniferous wood

I have this nice pyrenomycete with aggregated black immersed perithecia with and protruding ostioles from Picea (Pinus?) wood. Asci cylindrical, thin-walled, lacks apical apparatus, inamyloid, p. sp. 40-50 x 4-5 mym, not floating like in Diaporthe. Ascospores 8 per ascus, obliquely uniseriate, 7-8 x 2-3 mym, cylindrical, two-celled with central septum, rounded ends, greyish, with 2 small oil drops. Paraphyses simple, longer than asci, ca 1,5 mym broad. Peridium medium brown, of rounded cells ca 4 mym in diameter. Thankful for suggestions.

BMS spring foray 3 – Pandora dipterigena

We continue with another entomophtoralean fungus with the beautiful name  Pandora dipterigena. It was found in Greno Woods by Thomas Læssøe on a Moth Fly (Psychoidae).

BMS spring foray 2 – entomophtoralean fungus

The most eye-catching fungus we saw today may be this crane fly killed by a entomophtoralean fungus. Any suggestion would be welcome . . .

BMS spring foray 1 – Trochila ilicis

This week Thomas Læssøe and I spend on Wentworth Castle near Sheffield, England attending the British Mycological Societys spring foray. Though it is the driest season in memory we do find fungi. First, here is the common but very beautiful species Trochila ilicis breaking trough the leaf surface of Ilex aquifolium by opening the epidermis as a small lid.

Entolomataceae of Tasmania

The Entolomataceae of Tasmania project

Currently I am in Tasmania to finish a long-term project concerning Entolomataceae. Together with Genevieve Gates a revision has been made of this family, based upon more than 2000 collections that were made in the course of the past decade. Eventually the book will contain descriptions and illustrations of some 100 taxa, of which the majority is new to science, and the remaining shared with New Zealand. Numerous photographs will illustrate this colourful family, many of them taken by Michael Pilkington.
Some examples are given here
More information on the project, a preliminary key, and downloads of published papers to be found on the website.

Entoloma pruinosolilacinum Noordel. & Gates (photo Michael Pilkington)

Entoloma pruinosolilacinum Noordel. & Gates (photo Michael Pilkington)

Entoloma discrepans Noordel. & Gates (photo Michael Pilkington)

Entoloma rodwayi (Massee) E. Horak (photo Machiel Noordeloos)

The Kingdom Fungi

In connection to the work on a book on fungi I created this graphical overview the Kingdom. The branching is mostly compliant with Hibbet et al. 2007 and the size of the groups approximates the number of known species as counted by The Dictionary of Fungi.

The figure can be downloaded here as a hi-res pdf. You may use this freely in your teaching and presentations . . .

MellAsco 3 - Dennisiodiscus prasinus

Dennisiodiscus prasinus (Quél.) Svrcek is one of the more beautiful discos sporting a pale, green disk with long, orange hairs at the margin. This collection was found on Glyceria maxima, but it was also seen on Carex. The species is closely related to Mollisia and may even end up inside this genus.

The hairs not only covers the margin but also the back side of the fruitbody:

MellAsco 2 - Daldinia concentrica

The MellAsco excursions were rich in Daldinea concentrica (sensu stricto). In the Marais Portevin area the pollarded Fraxinus were a perferred habitat.

Left overnight, these large pyrenomycetes will produce large amounts of black ascospores that deposits in the near surroundings. The spore production peak around midnight.

The stromata are filled with a complicated hyphal structure showing as concentric zones. This helps preserve the water within so the perithecia may continue spore production for days (or weeks) after they are removed from their substrate.

New version of "The genus Hygrocybe" by Boertmann

Did you know that Fungi of Northern Europe/Svampetryk issued a completely revised edition of the genus Hygrocybe by David Boertmann last year? Many new pictures have replaced older ones, some taxonomic changes have been made, including a few new combinations, and this time it is issued in a hardback format, but still sold at a very reasonable price via http://tanglohse.dk/svampetryk/svampetrykkatalog.htm. David continues his studies and also deals with collections from other regions of the world.

MellAsco 1 - Pseudotrichia viburnicola

Just returned from a weeks asco-meeting in Melle, France. Unfortunate the driest season for years, but nevertheless we found a number of interesting fungi. The first presented here is a very beautiful pyrenomycete Pseudotrichia viburnicola (P. Crouan & H. Crouan) Rossman found on deciduous wood by Stip Hellemann: