''Auriscalpium barbatum'' is a species of spine fungus in the family

Auriscalpiaceae The Auriscalpiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. Like much of the Russulales, it has been defined through molecular phylogeny, and includes physically dissimilar species, such as the tooth fungus ''Auriscalpium'' and the gilled ...

of the Russulales order. Found in Western Australia in 1977 embedded on fragments of

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

in sandy soil, it was described as new to science by the Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus in 1978.

Taxonomy

Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus described the fungus in 1978, from a collection made in August of the previous year in Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia. Based on the structure of the

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

e in their spines, Maas Geesteranus considered this species to be most closely related to the widespread ''

Auriscalpium vulgare ''Auriscalpium vulgare'', commonly known as the pinecone mushroom, the cone tooth, or the ear-pick fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Auriscalpiaceae of the order Russulales. It was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus, who ...

''. 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 ...

''barbatum'' derives from ''barbatum'', meaning "spiny".

Description

The fruit body has a circular cap about in diameter. The cap surface is smooth overall, dark brown with tinges of red, and has fine, radially arranged wrinkles. The stipe, which measures long by 3–5 mm thick, is slightly curved below and becomes slightly wider near the top. The crowded spines on the cap underside are up to 7 mm long. The spores are pip-shaped and covered with tiny spines, amyloid, colourless, and measure 5.8–6.3 by 3.8–4.7

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-producing cells) are club shaped with clamps at their bases, four-spored with sterigmata up to 4.5 µm long, and have dimensions of 22–25 by 5.5–7 µm. The cap tissue consists of generative hyphae, thick-walled skeletal hyphae, and some oleiferous ( lipid-containing) hyphae.

Habitat and distribution

The fungus is only known from the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

collection, a single specimen that was found growing on pieces of

in sandy soil in an open area. ''

Eucalyptus tetragona ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including ''Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euc ...

'' trees were growing nearby.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4822401 Fungi described in 1978 Fungi of Australia Russulales Taxa named by Rudolf Arnold Maas Geesteranus