''Auriscalpium'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

typifying Typification is a process of creating standard (''typical'') social construction based on standard assumptions. Discrimination based on typification is called typism. See also *Ideal type Ideal type (), also known as pure type, is a typological ...

the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 The hydnoid fungi are a group ...

Etymology

''Auriscalpium'' is a compound of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, ''auris'', "ear"; and ''scalpo'', "I scratch", generally meaning

ear pick Ear picks, also called ear scoops, or ear spoons, or earpicks, are a type of curette used to clean the ear canal of earwax (cerumen). They are preferred and are commonly used in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia because Asians tend to d ...

. The term was originally applied as a

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1753, viz. ''Hydnum auriscalpium'' and changed in 1821 to ''vulgare'' when S.F. Gray recognized the cone-inhabiting fungus as a new genus, named after its type species, ''Auriscalpium vulgare''.

Tautonym A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as '' Rattus rattus''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' i ...

s, such as ''"Auriscalpium auriscalpium"'' are illegitimate under the

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

Taxonomy

The genus includes the following species: * '' A. andinum'' * '' A. barbatum'' * '' A. dissectum'' * '' A. gilbertsonii'' * '' A. luteolum'' * '' A. umbella'' * '' A. villipes'' * '' A. vulgare''

Description

Members of this genus are characterized by in part by rough-walled,

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of typically 7–13 nm in diameter, a β-sheet secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the human ...

spores that are produced on pendant spines, hence it is considered to be a

tooth fungus The hydnoid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota with basidiocarps (fruit bodies) producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the ge ...

. 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. * ...

species, ''A. vulgare'', is a common, easily identified fungus in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

found fruiting exclusively on mature, fallen, often buried

conifer cone A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, : strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have sc ...

s. Its wiry, long hairy stipe is topped by an eccentrically placed, shaggy pileus bearing the pendant, flexible, spore-bearing spines. The entire fructification resembles and perhaps could be used as an

(see

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

above). Other species in the genus do not occur on cones or lack the eccentric pileus on a long stalk. According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), the genus contains eight widely distributed species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2521174 Russulales Russulales genera