''Sarcoleotia'' is a
genus of fungi in the earth tongue family
Geoglossaceae. There is no known common name.
History
The genus was first described by Japanese mycologists
Seiya Ito
Seiya (星矢) is a masculine name of Japanese origin. It is a common masculine Japanese given name.
Possible writings
Seiya can be written in Hiragana as せいや. In Kanji, it can be alternatively rendered as;
*星矢 "star, heavenly body of ...
and
Sanshi Imai
was a Japanese mycologist of Hokkaido Imperial University.
Eponymous taxa
*''Clitocybe imaiana''
*'' Imaia''
*''Lactarius imaianus''
*''Stropharia imaiana
The genus ''Stropharia'' (sometimes known by the common name roundheads) is a group of me ...
in 1934,
who separated ''Sarcoleotia'' from ''
Leotia'' Pers. based on the fleshy, non-gelatinous
ascocarps
An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mo ...
and subcylindrical ascospores. ''Sarcoleotia nigra'' was described as the type species in the same publication from collections made in Hokkaido, Japan.
Maas Geesteranus created ''S. platypus'' by transferring ''Helvella platypus'' DC. into the genus.
Korf transferred ''Mitrula globosa'' to the genus in 1971, creating ''S. globosa''.
Dennis
Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius.
The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...
transferred ''Coryne turficola'' to the genus in 1971.
Lastly, Rahm reported "Sarcoleotia clandestina" from Switzerland in 1975, but this name is regarded as ''
nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
'' as no valid description of the species exists.
Some debate exists over the accepted number of species in ''Sarcoleotia''. Maas Geesteranus considered ''S. nigra'' a later synonym of ''S. platypus''.
Korf
transferred ''S. turficola'' to the genus ''
Ascocoryne
''Ascocoryne'' is a genus of fungi in the family Helotiaceae. It was circumscribed in 1967 by James Walton Groves and Doreen Wilson as a genus segregate from '' Coryne''. , Index Fungorum
''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to inde ...
'' based on gelatinous tissue in the ascocarp. Schumacher and Silvertsen recognized only a single species, ''S. globosa''.
[Schumacher T, Silvertsen S. 1987. ''Sarcoleotia globosa'' (Sommerf.:Fr.) Korf, taxonomy ecology and distribution. In: Larsen GA, Ammirati JF, Redhead SA (eds.), Arctic and Alpine Mycology 2. Plenum Press, New York and London] Recent molecular evidence indicates that the genus is most closely associated with Geoglossaceae.
Habitat and distribution
''Sarcoleotia globosa'' is reported by Schumacher and Silvertsen as having a "more or less transcontinental northern circumpolar boreo-oroarctic and arctic distribution", citing records from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada.
''S. globosa'' has also been reported from Denmark.
[Hansen L, Knudsen H. 2000. Nordic Macromycetes Vol. 1: Ascomycetes. Nordsvamp, Copenhagen.] ''S. globosa'' is also reported cool
temperate zones ranging from the Pacific Northwestern United States (Washington and
Oregon) and
Colorado.
''S. nigra'' was described from Japan and has been reported from Argentina
''S. globosa'' has been reported from both
calcareous areas and rich soil types in Europe,
and acidic-nutrient poor soils in North America.
''S. globosa'' has been recorded mostly from disturbed areas and primary or secondary successional habitats, almost always fruiting in areas colonized by
bryophytes.
''S. globosa'' is also reported from burned sites.
Conservation
The conservation of ''Sarcoleotia'' has not formally been assessed on a global scale, though given its widespread distribution and ability to survive in varied habitats, it is probably of low concern.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10661795
Geoglossaceae
Ascomycota genera
Taxa described in 1934