''Marasmius koae'' is a species of agaric fungus in the family

Marasmiaceae The Marasmiaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi which have white spores. They mostly have tough stems and the capability of shrivelling up during a dry period and later recovering. The widely consumed edible fungus ''Lentinula edodes'', the ...

. Newly described to science in 2011, it is known only from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an montane wet forests. It produces small stemless

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 ...

that grow on the rotting wood of the flowering tree

koa KOA (short for Kampgrounds of America) is an American franchise of privately owned campgrounds. Having more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, it is the world's largest system of privately owned campgrounds. It was founded in ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described scientifically in 2011 in '' Mycologia'' by Dennis Desjardin and Don Hemmes. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen was collected in January 1996, in Kōkeʻe State Park on

Kauaʻi Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the List of islands of th ...

island. Desjardin and Hemmes consider the fungus best classified in

Rolf Singer Rolf Singer (June 23, 1906 – January 18, 1994) was a Germany, German-born mycologist and one of the most important Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists of gilled mushrooms (agarics) in the 20th century. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University ...

's section ''Neosessiles'' of the genus ''

Marasmius ''Marasmius'' is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi in the family Marasmiaceae. It contains about 500 species of agarics, of which a few, such as '' Marasmius oreades'', are edible. However, most members of this genus are small, unimpressive ...

''. 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 ...

''koae'' refers to the name of the tree upon which the fungus grows.

Description

The

of ''Marasmius koae'' are rounded and fan-shaped to hemispherical, measuring in diameter. The cap surface is dull and dry, grooved, and has a texture ranging from smooth to somewhat velvety. Its color is brownish yellow to pale brownish-orange near the center, with the color fading to pale orange-white to

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional wr ...

or tan near the cap margin. The gills are convex, buff, and remotely spaced, with one irregular series of lamellulae (short gills) interspersed between three and six gills. The fruit body lacks a stipe, having a

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

attachment to the substrate. The fruit body has no distinctive taste or odor. The thin-walled

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 are somewhat fusoid (spindle-shaped) to elongated ellipsoidal in shape, smooth,

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from el, ὑάλινος, translit=hyálinos, lit=transparent, and el, ὕαλος, translit=hýalos, lit=crystal, glass, label=none. Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is ...

(translucent), and measure 12–14.5 by 4–4.8

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and clamped, measuring 24–28 by 7–9 μm.

Habitat and distribution

The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Hawaii, where it has been found growing in dense groups on the rotting wood of koa (''Acacia koa''). Collections have been made only in the Koa/Ohia Montane Wet Forest on

island.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q6754916 Fungi described in 2011 Fungi of Hawaii koae Fungi without expected TNC conservation status

Taxonomy

Description

Habitat and distribution

See also

References

External links