''Squamanita'' is a
genus of parasitic
fungi in the
family Squamanitaceae
The Squamanitaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. All species in the family are agarics (gilled mushrooms). Species in two genera, '' Dissoderma'' and '' Squamanita'', are parasitic on other agarics. Members of the ''Squamanitacea ...
.
Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) superficially resemble normal agarics (gilled mushrooms) but emerge from parasitized fruit bodies of deformed host agarics.
Taxonomy
The genus was created in 1946 by Swiss
mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
Emil Imbach to accommodate an unusual agaric species, ''Squamanita schreieri'', which L. Schreier had earlier described and illustrated as "''Tricholoma'' X".
[ In 1965 Dutch mycologist ]Cornelis Bas
Dr. Cornelis (Kees) Bas (1928 – February 10, 2013) was a Dutch mycologist.
Dr. Bas was born in Rotterdam and graduated in Biology at Leiden University in 1954. In 1953, he began working at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, as cu ...
expanded the genus to five species, all of which were characterized by arising from "sclerotial bodies".[ The possibility that ''Squamanita'' might be parasitic on other agarics (the remains of which formed the "sclerotial bodies") was noted by British mycologist Derek Reid in 1983.][ The discovery of a host fruit body that formed its own pileus together with three ''Squamanita'' pilei confirmed the parasitic nature of the genus,][ a discovery subsequently featured in '' Nature'' under the title 'Mycological mystery tour'.][
]Molecular
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...
research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has confirmed the parasitism of ''Squamanita'', but has also shown that species belong to two genera: ''Squamanita'' sensu stricto
''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...
and ''Dissoderma
''Dissoderma'' is a genus of parasitic fungi in the family Squamanitaceae. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) superficially resemble normal agarics (gilled mushrooms) but emerge from parasitized fruit bodies of deformed host agarics.
Taxonomy
''Disso ...
''. A number of species previously referred to ''Squamanita'' have accordingly been transferred to ''Dissoderma''.[
]
See also
* List of Agaricales genera
References
External links
*
The pouch strangler: ''Squamanita squarrulosa''
in Spores, moulds, and fungi. A natural history of mushrooms and other fungi in New Zealand.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7581935
Agaricales genera