''Arachnion'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

gasteroid fungi The gasteroid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota. Species were formerly placed in the obsolete class Gasteromycetes Fr. (literally "stomach fungi"), or the equally obsolete order Gasteromycetales Rea, because they produce spores insi ...

in the family

Agaricaceae The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was publishe ...

Taxonomy

The genus was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

Lewis David von Schweinitz Lewis David de Schweinitz (13 February 1780 – 8 February 1834) was a German-American botanist and mycologist. He is considered by some the "Father of North American Mycology", but also made significant contributions to botany. Education B ...

in 1822 with '' Arachnion album'' as the type, and only species. The genus name is

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

for "cobweb".

William Chambers Coker William Chambers Coker (October 24, 1872 – June 26, 1953) was an American botany, botanist and mycology, mycologist. Biography He was born at Hartsville, South Carolina on October 24, 1872. He graduated from University of South Carolina, Sou ...

and John Nathaniel Couch

the family Arachniaceae in 1928 to contain ''Arachnion''. The genus was later placed in the now-defunct family

Lycoperdaceae The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was publish ...

. Modern molecular analysis has shown that ''Arachnion'', as well as other puffball genera, are part of the family

Description

''Arachnion'' species have a characteristic

gleba Gleba (, from Latin ''glaeba, glēba'', "lump") is the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of certain fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn. The gleba is a solid mass of spores, generated within an enclosed area within the sporocarp. The contin ...

, resembling a mass of grainy, sand-like particles. At a microscopic scale, the granules are peridioles, or tiny sacs made of hyphae that contain spores. Inside each sac is a minuscule chamber that contains inward-facing

basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...

(spore-bearing cells), an arrangement similar to that seen in ''

Lycoperdon ''Lycoperdon'' is a genus of puffball mushrooms. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains about 50 species. In general, it contains the smaller species such as the pear-shaped puffball and the gem-studded puffball. It was formerly cla ...

''. The fruitbodies have a smooth, thin, and fragile

peridium The peridium is the protective layer that encloses a mass of spores in fungi. This outer covering is a distinctive feature of gasteroid fungi. Description Depending on the species, the peridium may vary from being paper-thin to thick and rubbe ...

that readily disintegrates into small pieces in maturity to expose the granular contents.

Distribution

The genus is widely distributed, with species found in Australia, North and South America, South Africa, and Europe, and Japan.

Species

Index Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of M ...

accepts 11 species in ''Arachnion'': *'' Arachnion alborosellum'' Verwoerd 1926 – South Africa *'' Arachnion album'' Schwein. 1822 *'' Arachnion bovista'' (Mont.) Mont. 1849 *'' Arachnion firmoderma'' Verwoerd 1926 – South Africa *'' Arachnion foetens'' Speg. 1906 – South America *'' Arachnion iriemae'' Rick 1961 *'' Arachnion iulii'' Quadr. 1996 – Italy *'' Arachnion lazoi'' Demoulin 1972 *'' Arachnion lloydianum'' Demoulin 1972 *'' Arachnion rufum'' Lloyd 1906 *'' Arachnion scleroderma'' Lloyd 1915

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4783552 Agaricaceae Agaricales genera Taxa named by Lewis David de Schweinitz

Taxonomy

Description

Distribution

Species

See also

References