''Chaetothiersia'' is a fungal

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

in the family

Pyronemataceae The Pyronemataceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales. It is the largest family of the Pezizales, encompassing 75 genera and approximately 500 species. Phylogenetic analyses does not support the prior classifications of this family, an ...

. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, containing the single species ''Chaetothiersia vernalis'' collected from the northern High

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. It has been found growing in groups on the decaying wood and bark of the conifer ''

Abies magnifica ''Abies magnifica'', the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at elevation, though only rare ...

''.

Description

This species is characterized by having stiff brown hairs on the surface of the ectal excipulum, the outer layer of the

apothecium 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 ...

. The ectal excipulum is thin, and made of roughly spherical to somewhat spherical/angular cells. Its

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera o ...

s are smooth, and do not contain oil droplets.

Etymology

The

etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...

of the generic name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''chaeto'', meaning hairy (a reference to both the external hairs on the cups and to Dr. Thiers' first name), and "thiersia", in honor of

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

Harry Thiers Harry Delbert Thiers (January 22, 1919 in Fort McKavett, Texas – August 8, 2000 in Ohio) was an American mycologist who studied and named many fungi native to North America, particularly California. Thiers taught mycology at San Francisco ...

, one of the first to collect this specimen.

Lookalikes

Genera with species that bear a resemblance to ''C. vernalis'' include ''

Geopora ''Geopora'' is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the family Pyronemataceae, currently with 13 described species. The genus was circumscribed by mycologist Harvey Willson Harkness in 1885. Molecular phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that the c ...

'', ''

Humaria ''Humaria'' is a genus of fungi in the family Pyronemataceae. The genus is widespread in northern temperate areas, and contains 16 species. The genus was circumscribed by Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb Leopold Fuckel in 1870. Species *''Humaria aurantia' ...

'', '' Trichophaea'', ''

Trichophaeopsis ''Trichophaeopsis'' is a genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of bi ...

'', ''

Tricharina ''Tricharina'' is a genus of fungi in the family Pyronemataceae. The genus has a widespread distribution in temperate regions, and contains 13 species. The anamorph form is '' Ascorhizoctonia''. ''Tricharina'' was described by mycologist Finn-E ...

'', most of which are distinguishable only by examining microscopic characteristics.

References

External links

California Fungi
Photograph {{Taxonbar, from=Q5066755 Pyronemataceae Monotypic Ascomycota genera Taxa described in 2008 Fungi of North America