''Armillaria hinnulea'' is a species of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

in the family

Physalacriaceae The Physalacriaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Species in the family have a widespread distribution, ranging from the Arctic, ('' Rhizomarasmius''), to the tropics, e.g. '' Gloiocephala'', and from marine sites ('' Mycaureola ...

. This rare species is found only in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

; in Australia, it is a secondary

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

(i.e., causing disease only after a primary pathogen has damaged the host) of wet

sclerophyll forest Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

s, and causes a woody root rot.Google Books
/ref> A 2008

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

study of Australian and New Zealand populations of ''A. hinnulea'' suggests that the species was introduced to New Zealand from Australia on two occasions, once relatively recently and another time much longer ago.

References

hinnulea Fungi of Australia Fungi native to Australia Fungal tree pathogens and diseases Fungi described in 1983 Taxa named by Roy Watling {{Physalacriaceae-stub

See also

References