''Auriscalpium'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

typifying Typification is a process of creating standard (''typical'') social construction based on standard assumptions. Discrimination based on typification is called typism. See also *Ideal type *Normal type Normal type (in German: ''Normaltyp'') is a ...

the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Auriscalpiaceae The Auriscalpiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. Like much of the Russulales, it has been defined through molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular di ...

Etymology

''Auriscalpium'' is a compound of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, ''auris'', "ear"; and ''scalpo'', "I scratch", generally meaning

ear pick Ear picks, also called ear scoops, or ear spoons, or earpicks, are a type of curette used to clean the ear canal of earwax (cerumen). They are preferred and are commonly used in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia because Asians tend to d ...

. The term was originally applied as a

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753, viz. ''Hydnum auriscalpium'' and changed in 1821 to ''vulgare'' when S.F. Gray recognized the cone-inhabiting fungus as a new genus, named after its type species, ''Auriscalpium vulgare''.

Tautonym A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as ''Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' in ...

s, such as ''"Auriscalpium auriscalpium"'' are illegitimate under the

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

Taxonomy

The genus includes the following species: * '' A. andinum'' * '' A. barbatum'' * '' A. dissectum'' * '' A. gilbertsonii'' * '' A. luteolum'' * '' A. umbella'' * '' A. villipes'' * '' A. vulgare''

Description

Members of this genus are characterized by in part by rough-walled,

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a Fibril, fibrillar morphology of 7–13 Nanometer, nm in diameter, a beta sheet (β-sheet) Secondary structure of proteins, secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be Staining, ...

spores that are produced on pendant spines, hence it is considered to be a

tooth fungus The hydnoid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota with basidiocarps (fruit bodies) producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the g ...

. The type species, ''A. vulgare'', is a common, easily identified fungus in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

found fruiting exclusively on mature, fallen, often buried

conifer cone A conifer cone (in formal botany, botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in con ...

s. Its wiry, long hairy stipe is topped by an eccentrically placed, shaggy pileus bearing the pendant, flexible, spore-bearing spines. The entire fructification resembles and perhaps could be used as an

(see

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

above). Other species in the genus do not occur on cones or lack the eccentric pileus on a long stalk. According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), the genus contains eight widely distributed species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2521174 Russulales Russulales genera