''Lepiota ananya'' is a gilled
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 ...
of the genus ''
Lepiota
''Lepiota'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae. All ''Lepiota'' species are ground-dwelling saprotrophs with a preference for rich, calcareous soils. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are agaricoid with whitish spores, typically ...
'' in the order
Agaricales. Known only to come from
Kerala State, India, it was described as new to science in 2009.
Taxonomy
The species was first
described in a 2009 issue of the journal ''
Mycotaxon
''Mycotaxon'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the nomenclature and taxonomy of fungi, including lichens. The journal was founded by Grégoire L. Hennebert and Richard P. Korf in 1974. They were frustrated that papers submitted t ...
''. The
type collection was made in July 2005, in
Palode, a village in the
Thiruvananthapuram district
Thiruvananthapuram District (), is the southernmost district in the Indian state of Kerala. The district was created in 1949, with its headquarters in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, which is also Kerala's administrative centre. The present d ...
of
Kerala State, India. The
specific epithet ''ananya'' is derived from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word for "unique".
[
]
Description
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 ...
have caps
Caps are flat headgear.
Caps or CAPS may also refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters
* Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...
that are initially convex, becoming broadly convex and finally flattened with an umbo; the cap attains a diameter of . The cap surface is whitish, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, and has dark brown, pressed-down fibrillose scales that are more concentrated in the center of the cap. The cap margin, initially curved inward before straightening in age, has fine grooves and a scalloped edge. The gills
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
are free from attachment to the stem, and colored light yellow. They are crowded together closely, and interspersed with 3–4 tiers of lamellulae (short gills). The edges of the gills are finely fringed. The hollow, cylindrical stem measures by thick, with a thicker base. The stem surface is whitish and fibrillose; the stem base arises from a white mycelium
Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates ...
. The stem bears a membranous, whitish ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
on its upper portion. The flesh
Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, but ...
is up to 2 mm thick, whitish to pale yellow, and has no distinct odor.[
Spores are amygdaliform (almond-shaped) with walls up to 1 µm thick, smooth, hyaline (translucent), and measure 5.5–8 by 3.5–4.5 µm. The spores contain ]refractive
In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomeno ...
oil droplets. The 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- ...
(spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, hyaline, contain oil droplets, and have dimensions of 13–21 by 8–10 µm. They are four-spored with sterigmata
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 ...
up to 5 µm long. Cheilocystidia (cystidia
A cystidium (plural cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that ar ...
on the gill edge) are abundant, and have a shape ranging from cylindrical to club-shaped to utriform (like a leather bottle). They are thin-walled, hyaline or pale yellowish, and measure 15–37 by 7.5–10 µm; there are no cystidia on the gill faces (pleurocystidia). 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 are rare in the hyphae.[
]
Habitat and distribution
The fruit bodies of ''Lepiota ananya'' grow single or scattered on the ground among decaying litterfall. The species is known only from its type locality.[
]
See also
* List of ''Lepiota'' species
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6527730
ananya
Fungi of India
Fungi described in 2009