''Calvatia sporocristata'' is a species of puffball in the family Agaricaceae. Found in Costa Rica, it was described as new to science in 2003 by Spanish mycologist Francisco D. Calonge. Fruit bodies are top-shaped to roughly spherical, measuring by . The outermost tissue layer, the

exoperidium 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 rubber ...

, is brown and has a cork-like texture; the endoperidium is thin and paperlike. Inside the puffball, the gleba is initially yellowish-brown before changing to dark brown and woolly as the

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

s mature. The

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 ...

''sporocristata'' refers to the crest-forming spines on the spores. Similar '' Calvatia'' species include '' C. lepidophara'' and '' C. longicauda'', but these lookalikes can be readily distinguished from ''C. sporocristata'' by differences in spore ornamentation.

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* Agaricaceae Fungi described in 2003 Fungi of Central America {{agaricaceae-stub