''Favolus'', or honeycomb fungus, 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 ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

in the family

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymeniu ...

. The

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 ...

of ''Favolus'' species are fleshy with radially arranged pores on the underside of the cap that are angular and deeply pitted, somewhat resembling a honeycomb.

Taxonomy

The naturalist

Palisot de Beauvois Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois (27 July 1752, in Arras – 21 January 1820, in Paris) was a French naturalist and zoologist. Palisot collected insects in Oware, Benin, Saint Domingue, and the United States, from 17 ...

was the first to use the name ''Favolus'' in his 1805 work ''Flore d'Oware et de Benin, en Afrique''. His

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

was ''Favolus hirtus'', a fungus first collected in Africa.

Elias Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. Career Fries was born at Femsjö (Hylte Municipality), Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in Växjö. He acquired an ...

used the name as a subgenus of ''

Polyporus ''Polyporus'' is a genus of poroid fungi in the family Polyporaceae. Taxonomy Italian botanist Pier Antonio Micheli introduced the genus in 1729 to include 14 species featuring fruit bodies with centrally-placed stipes, and pores on the under ...

'' in 1821. Seven years later, Fries used the name ''Favolus'' for a different genus, with the tropical species ''F. brasiliensis'' as the type. Fries's concept of the genus was later accepted as it was published in one of the sanctioning works of mycology. ''Favolus hirtus'' is now called '' Trametes hirta'', and Beauvois' concept of ''Favolus'' is placed in

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with ''

Trametes ''Trametes'' is a genus of fungi that is distinguished by a pileate basidiocarp, di- to trimitic hyphal systems, smooth non-dextrinoid spores, and a hymenium usually without true hymenial cystidia.Ryvarden L. (1991). "Genera of polypores: Nomenc ...

''. The generic name ''Favolus'' 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 ...

''favus'' meaning ''

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey ...

''. Until relatively recently, many works have considered ''Favolus'' to be synonymous with ''Polyporus''. Based on molecular phylogenetic analysis, ''Favolus'' species were shown to form two genera, and several species were transferred to '' Neofavolus'' in 2013. This reorganization was accepted and verified in later studies.

Description

The

of ''Favolus'' fungi are

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year ** Yearbook ** Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...

, and have a stipe that is situated laterally to substipitate or almost sessile. The shape of the

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

is spatulate (with a broad, rounded end), reniform (kidney shaped) to dimidiate (divided into two equal parts). The texture of the cap surface can be smooth, or may have minute hairs, sometimes with stiff tufts or spiny scales toward the base. Often featuring radial grooves, the cap surface is variable in colour. The stipe is cylindrical to flattened or reduced. The internal tissue of the fruit body (

context Context may refer to: * Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary Computing * Context (computing), the virtual environment required to su ...

) has a tough and fleshy to leathery texture when fresh, becoming leathery to corky or brittle when dried. Pores on the underside of the cap are large to small, and either regular or radially elongated. ''Favolus'' has a dimitic hyphal system, containing both generative and skeletal-binding hyphae. The generative hyphae are either with or without

clamp connection A clamp connection is a hook-like structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is a characteristic feature of Basidiomycetes fungi. It is created to ensure that each cell, or segment of hypha separated by septa (cross walls), rec ...

s. Skeletal-binding hyphae are usually dominating, arboriform (tree-like), and hyaline. The

cap cuticle The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fruit body. It covers the trama, the fleshy tissue of the fruit body. The pileipellis is more or less synonymous with the cuticle, but the cuticle generally describes ...

is not differentiated into distinct layers; if present it comprises non-agglutinated parallel hyphae that are up to 50 μm thick.

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- ...

are club-shaped, four-

sterigma In biology, a sterigma (pl. sterigmata) is a small supporting structure. It commonly refers to an extension of the basidium (the spore-bearing cells) consisting of a basal filamentous part and a slender projection which carries a spore at the ti ...

te.

Spores 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, ...

are cylindrical to navicular (boat-shaped), thin-walled, smooth, and hyaline. ''Favolus'' differs from ''Neofavolus'' in the features of the cap surface. In ''Neofavolus'', it is smooth to scaly, with a cutis made of hyaline to brown, parallel and agglutinated, generative hyphae that are distinct from contextual hyphae, which mainly comprise non-agglutinated skeletal-binding hyphae.

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 25 species of ''Favolus''. *'' Favolus acervatus'' (Lloyd) Sotome & T.Hatt. (2013) – Singapore; Japan *'' Favolus africanus'' Lloyd (1923) *'' Favolus albidus'' Massee (1902) *'' Favolus albostipes'' (Ryvarden & Iturr.) Zmitr. & Kovalenko (2016) – Venezuela *'' Favolus albus'' Lloyd (1936) *'' Favolus argentinensis'' Speg. (1909) – South America *'' Favolus beelii'' Hendr. (1948) *'' Favolus bengala'' Bose (1922) *'' Favolus biskeletalis'' (Corner) Zmitr. & Kovalenko (2016) – Brazil *'' Favolus brasiliensis'' (Fr.) Fr. (1830) 2015-03-14 Favolus brasiliensis (Fr

*'' Favolus elongoporus'' (Drechsler-Santos & Ryvarden) Zmitr. & Kovalenko (2016) *'' Favolus gracilisporus'' H.Lee, N.K.Kim & Y.W.Lim (2017) *'' Favolus grammocephalus'' (Berk.) Imazeki (1943) *'' Favolus ianthinus'' (Gibertoni & Ryvarden) Zmitr. & Kovalenko (2016) – Guyana; Brazil *'' Favolus intestinalis'' Berk. (1851) *'' Favolus maxonii'' (Murrill) Sacc. & Trotter (1912) *'' Favolus microporus'' (Murrill) Sacc. & D.Sacc. (1905) *'' Favolus niger'' Lloyd (1936) *'' Favolus niveus'' J.L.Zhou & B.K.Cui (2017) *'' Favolus parviporus'' Lloyd (1922) *'' Favolus pseudobetulinus'' (Murashk. ex Pilát) Sotome & T.Hatt. (2013) – Eurasia, Japan, North America *'' Favolus pseudoemerici'' J.L.Zhou & B.K.Cui (2017) *'' Favolus pseudoprinceps'' (Murrill) Sacc. & Trotter (1912) *'' Favolus septatus'' J.L.Zhou & B.K.Cui (2017) *'' Favolus subspathulatus'' Lloyd (1936) *'' Favolus subtropicus'' J.L.Zhou & B.K.Cui (2017) *'' Favolus taxodii'' (Murrill) Sacc. & D.Sacc. (1905) *'' Favolus tenuiculus'' P.Beauv. (1806) *'' Favolus tessellatulus'' (Murrill) Sacc. & D.Sacc. (1905) *'' Favolus trigonus'' Lloyd (1924)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5438591 Polyporaceae Polyporales genera Fungi described in 1805