Squamanita contortipes
| Squamanita contortipes | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Tricholomataceae |
| Genus: | Squamanita |
| Species: | S. contortipes |
| Binomial name | |
| Squamanita contortipes (A.H.Sm. & D.E.Stuntz) Heinem. & Thoen (1973) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Squamanita contortipes is a small mushroom species in the family Squamanitaceae, formerly in the Tricholomataceae. It was originally described in 1957 by American mycologist Alexander H. Smith and Daniel Elliot Stuntz as a member of Cystoderma. Paul Heinemann and David Thoen transferred it to the genus Squamanita in 1973.[1] Discovery of an unusual fruiting of this species where three fruitbodies grew on one, still fertile host pileus which was a species of Galerina proved that Squamanita was a mycoparasitic genus. Photos of this fruiting were published in 1994[2] and immediately republished and highlighted in 1995 in Nature magazine where the original discovery article was featured.[3] The species proved to be the Rosetta Stone[2] for deciphering the parasite from the host in graft-like fruitings. Normally, S. contortipes only forms one fruitbody on each parasitized host and the host normally fails to remain fertile and does not form its own pileus.[1]
References
- 1 2 Heinemann P, Thoen D (1973). "Observations sur le genre Cystoderma". Bulletin de la Société Mycologique de France (in French). 89 (1): 5–34.
- 1 2 Redhead SA, Ammirati JF, Walker GR, Norvell LL, Puccio MB (1994). "Squamanita contortipes, the Rosetta Stone of a mycoparasitic agaric genus". Canadian Journal of Botany. 72 (12): 1812–1824. doi:10.1139/b94-223.
- ↑ Gee H. (1995). "Mycological mystery tour". Nature. 375 (6529): 276. doi:10.1038/375276a0.