''Mycena marasmielloides'' is a species of agaric fungus in the family

Mycenaceae The Mycenaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), the family contains 10 genera and 705 species. This is one of several families that were separated from the Tricholom ...

. 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. The species produces tiny

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 t ...

s with pale brown to grayish caps up to 5 mm in diameter, held by thin curved stems up to 4 mm long.

Taxonomy

The species was discovered in May 1993, by Dennis Desjardins, in

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is an American national park located in the U.S. state of Hawaii on the island of Hawaii. The park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kīlauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's mos ...

, Puʻu Makaʻala, on the eastern flank of Mauna Loa, and collected later at the same location. 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 ...

''marasmielloides'' means "resembling ''

Marasmiellus ''Marasmiellus'' is a genus of fungi in the family Omphalotaceae (synonym to Marasmiaceae). The widespread genus, circumscribed by American mycologist William Murrill in 1915, contains over 250 species. The name comes from the Greek '' marasmus'' ...

''", and refers to the similarity of the

fruit body In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the Ovary (plants), ovary after flowering plant, flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their ...

with those from that genus. Desjardins and Hemmes consider the species best classified in section ''Supinae'' of the genus ''Mycena'', and suggest that it is closely allied with '' Mycena fera'' and ''

Mycena globulispora ''Mycena'' is a large genus of small saprotrophic mushrooms that are rarely more than a few centimeters in width. They are characterized by a white spore print, a small conical or bell-shaped cap, and a thin fragile stem. Most are gray or b ...

''.

Description

The fruit bodies have caps that are convex to bell-shaped, and measure 1–5 mm in diameter. The moist caps are radially grooved, have a suede or felt-like texture, and are colored light brown to orangish, typically fading in maturity. The attachment of the gills to the stem ranges from adnate (broadly attached) to adnexed (narrowly attached), and they are distantly spaced, with 6–9 gills extending fully from the stem to the edge of the cap. The slender

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

is 2–4 mm long by 0.1–0.2 mm thick, and roughly the same width throughout its length. The stem is dry, often curved, light brown to greyish in color, and the base is insititious (attached squarely to the substrate without any evidence of basal

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 substrate (biology), substrates. A typical single ...

). The fruit bodies have no distinctive taste or odor. In deposit, the spores are white. The spores are spherical or nearly so,

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), thin-walled, and typically measure 9–10.2 by 8–9

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 broadly club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 28–35 by 14–16 μm.

Habitat and distribution

''Mycena marasmielloides'' is saprobic, and grows scattered or in groups on dead or dying rachises (the main shaft of a fern frond) of the

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 ...

Hawaiian tree fern ''Hāpuʻu pulu'' ('' Cibotium glaucum'') in Ohiʻa/Hapuʻu Tree Fern Forest. It is

to Hawaiʻi.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q6946890 Fungi described in 2011 Fungi of Hawaii marasmielloides Fungi without expected TNC conservation status