''Dicranophora fulva'' is a mold of the family Mucoraceae. The species was described as new to science in 1886 by German mycologist Joseph Schröter, who first discovered it near

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

in 1877. Its species name is derived from 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 ...

''fulvus'' "brown". The yellow mold has been reported from Europe and the United States. Although it is wide-ranging, it is not common. It grows exclusively on the decaying

fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

Boletales The Boletales are an order of Agaricomycetes containing over 1300 species with a diverse array of fruiting body types. The boletes are the best known members of this group, and until recently, the Boletales were thought to only contain boletes. T ...

. Known

hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places *Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman *Michel Host ( ...

include '' Suillus bovinus'', '' S. cavipes'', '' S. grevillei'', ''

Paxillus involutus ''Paxillus involutus'', commonly known as the brown roll-rim, common roll-rim is a basidiomycete fungus that is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. It has been inadvertently introduced to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, ...

'', ''

Chroogomphus rutilus ''Chroogomphus rutilus'', commonly known as the brown slimecap or the copper spike, is a species of fungus in the Gomphidiaceae family. First described scientifically as ''Agaricus rutilus'' by Jacob Christian Schäffer in 1774, it was transferre ...

'', and '' Leccinum scabrum''. It was not recorded after 1935 until Hermann Voglmayr and Irmgard Krisai-Greilhuber encountered it on a fungal field trip in southeastern

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

in 1994. Initially unable to identify it, they solved the mystery after checking older literature. ''Dicranophora fulva'' was illustrated by botanist Charles Geoffrey Dobbs in 1938. The mold produces two types of

sporangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cy ...

: one type is tree-like in shape, with mostly single-spored sporangiola; the other type has a

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

more typical of the Mucorales.

Zygospore A zygospore is a diploid reproductive stage in the life cycle of many fungi and protists. Zygospores are created by the nuclear fusion of haploid cells. In fungi, zygospores are formed in zygosporangia after the fusion of specialized budding struc ...

s produced by the fungus have irregular surface crevices. It appears to require high humidity and ample moisture, cool temperatures and abundant bolete mushrooms to flourish, a set of conditions more likely to occur in montane regions, which might explain the lack of records for this species. The mold becomes dormant in the autumn, but the circumstances that induce it to germinate are unknown. It is unclear whether ''Dicranophora fulva'' is a

mycoparasite A mycoparasite is an organism with the ability to parasitize fungi. Mycoparasites might be biotrophic or necrotrophic, depending on the type of interaction with their host. Types of mycoparasitic organisms Myco-heterotrophy Various plants may ...

(living off living material) or saprotrophite (living off dead or decaying material). It was initially thought to be the former, as are many Mucorales. However it is readily cultured on a wide variety of substrates such as bread and is hence suspected of being saprotrophic.

References

External links

* Zygomycota Fungi described in 1886 Fungi of Europe Fungi of the United States Fungi without expected TNC conservation status Taxa named by Joseph Schröter {{Zygomycota-stub