Mycoacia fuscoatra (Fr.: Fr.) Donk
no common name
Meruliaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Meruliaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Features include 1) resupinate growth on the underside of rotten hardwood, 2) dense spines that are waxy, whitish to yellowish or yellow-ochraceous when young, darkening to brown or blackish, the tip fringed under a lens, the fruitbody margin pruinose or indeterminately thinning out, 3) the young yellow parts of the fruitbody turning red with drops of KOH, 4) subcylindric spores that are smooth and inamyloid, 5) cystidia present as needle-like cystidioles projecting beyond the hymenium, 6) cystidia-like, encrusted hyphal ends at the tips of the spines, 7) a monomitic hyphal system, the hyphae with clamp connections.
Microscopic:
SPORES 5-6 x 2-2.5 microns, subcylindric "with almost parallel sides or with slightly concave adaxial side", smooth, inamyloid, acyanophilic, thin-walled; BASIDIA narrowly clavate, mostly 15-22 x 4-5 microns, 4-spored, with basal clamp connection "from which new basidia develop"; CYSTIDIA present as thin-walled, needle-like cystidioles in the hymenium, 30-40 x 4-5 microns, "projecting beyond the basidia", "and cystidia-like, encrusted hyphae in the apical part of the aculei"; HYPHAE monomitic, hyphae 2-3 microns wide, thin-walled, with clamp connections, "densely parallel in the aculeal trama, projecting in the aculeal apex, such projecting hyphae as a rule strongly encrusted and may look like differentiated cystidia"; "beside the crystalline encrustation also many non-crystalline grains in the texture which dissolve and in young fruitbodies turn red in KOH, in Cotton-blue floating together to yellow, oil-like drops or bodies with a foamy interior structure, often joined to irregular bodies, floating in the medium or sticking to hyphae or hymenial elements", (Eriksson), SPORES 4.5-5.5 x 2-2.5 microns, cylindric-elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, colorless, with droplets; BASIDIA 4-spored, 20-25 x 4-5 microns, narrowly clavate, with basal clamp connection; LEPTOCYSTIDIA up to 45 x 4 microns, fusiform; HYPHAE monomitic, the hyphae 2-4 microns wide, thin-walled to thick-walled, with clamp connections; HYPHAL ENDS at the tips of the spines strongly encrusted, up to 10 microns across, (Breitenbach)
Notes:
Mycoacia fuscoatra has been found in WA, ID, MB, NS, ON, AZ, CO, GA, IA, MI, MN, NC, NY, OH, WI, (Ginns(5) - some of which might be regarded as Mycoacia nothofagi by Nakasone(11)). It has been found in BC, MB, NS, ON, YT, AK, AL, GA, ID, IL, IA, LA, MD, ME, MT, NM, NY, OH, OR, WI, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Sweden, and Japan, (Nakasone(11)). It occurs in Europe (including Switzerland) and Asia, (Breitenbach). It has been recorded from all parts of Scandinavia, from Denmark to N. Lappland, (Eriksson).
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Mycoacia nothofagi differs microscopically (Nakasone(11)). Mycoacia uda has a distinctly yellow spore-bearing surface, the yellow parts staining red in KOH, and narrowly elliptic spores 2-3(3.2) microns wide, whereas M. fuscoatra has a pale yellow to ochraceous spore-bearing surface that stains red to purple in KOH on the yellow parts, and its spores are subcylindric, only 1.7-2.5 microns wide, (Ginns(23)). In M. uda 1) mature fruitbodies are ochraceous rather than dark brown to almost black as in M. fuscoatra, 2) encrusted hyphae if present are few and inconspicuous (M. fuscoatra has apical hyphae strongly encrusted, conspicuous, and cystidia-like in mature specimens), 3) cystidioles are short, and not acicular like those of M. fuscoatra, and 4) the yellow, oily bodies in cotton-blue are absent, (Eriksson). Mycoacia aurea does not stain in KOH, (Ginns(23)). M. aurea 1) does not stain red in KOH when young like M. fuscoatra, 2) has spores that are shorter and suballantoid, and 3) normally lacks cystidioles, (Eriksson). Mycoacia austro-occidentale Canf., found in Arizona, is pale buff to cream, with spores 4.0-4.5 x 2.0-2.5 microns, (Ginns(23)). Mycoacia is separated from other resupinate, odontioid fungi by its wax-like consistency, (Breitenbach).Habitat
on the underside of rotten hardwood, summer-fall, (Breitenbach), on decayed hardwood, one collection on Pinus (pine); "causes a rather intense white decay", (Eriksson), Acer (maple), Betula (birch), Castanea (chestnut), Fagus (beech), Populus, Quercus (oak); slash; burnt log; logs; associated with a white rot, (Ginns), all year (Buczacki)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cenangium prunastri Fr.
Dermatella prunastri Dowson