''Kriegeria'' is a

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 ...

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

in the

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

Pucciniomycotina Pucciniomycotina is a subdivision of fungus within the division Basidiomycota. The subdivision contains 9 classes, 20 orders, and 37 families. Over 8400 species of Pucciniomycotina have been described - more than 8% of all described fungi. The ...

. The genus is currently

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 ''Kriegeria eriophori''. The species is a

plant pathogen Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomy ...

, parasitic on

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

s, and produces auricularioid (laterally septate)

basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...

and

basidiospores A basidiospore is a reproductive spore produced by Basidiomycete fungi, a grouping that includes mushrooms, shelf fungi, rusts, and smuts. Basidiospores typically each contain one haploid nucleus that is the product of meiosis, and they are ...

that germinate to form a

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to consti ...

state.

Taxonomy

Both the genus and the species were described in 1891 by Italian

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 ...

Giacomo Bresadola Giacomo Bresadola ( Mezzana, Trento; often given as Giacopo) 14 February 1847 – Trento 9 June 1929) was an eminent Italian mycologist. Fungi he named include the deadly ''Lepiota helveola'' and ''Inocybe patouillardii'', though the latter i ...

, based on a specimen collected in Saxony by German mycologist Karl Wilhelm Krieger. Rabenhorst had proposed the name ''Kriegeria'' previously for an

ascomycetous Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

fungus, leading to the creation of the replacement genus ''Xenogloea'' for Bresadola's species. Rabenhorst's ''Kriegeria'' was, however, invalidly published and Bresadola's ''Kriegeria'' is the legitimate name, with the later ''Xenogloea'' as an

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ...

synonym. The

anamorphic Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...

yeast state was given the name ''Zymoxenogloea eriophori'', but, following changes to the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) 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 those "trad ...

, the practice of giving different names to

teleomorph In mycology, the terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota: *Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), typically a fruiting body. *Anamorph: an asex ...

and anamorph forms of the same fungus was discontinued, meaning that ''Zymoxenogloea'' became a synonym of the earlier name ''Kriegeria''.

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 bioch ...

research, based on

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...

analysis of

DNA sequences A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases signified by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. By convention, sequences are usu ...

, has shown that ''Kriegeria'' is a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

(natural) genus.

Description

The fungus grows within the host leaves, producing

hyphae 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 ...

with

clamp connections A clamp connection is a hook-like structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is a characteristic feature of Basidiomycetes fungi. It is created to ensure that each cell, or segment of hypha separated by septa (cross walls), recei ...

Basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...

emerge through the leaf's

stoma In botany, a stoma (from Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth", plural "stomata"), also called a stomate (plural "stomates"), is a pore found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange. The pore is bo ...

in a gelatinous matrix and are auricularioid (tubular and laterally septate), forming a weakly pustular, yellowish

basidiocarp In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do n ...

on the undersurface of the leaf. The

are smooth, hyaline, and fusoid-cylindrical, measuring 18-30 x 7-11 μm. They germinate by budding off yeast cells.

Habitat and distribution

The species was originally found on ''

Eriophorum angustifolium ''Eriophorum angustifolium'', commonly known as common cottongrass or common cottonsedge, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. Native to North America, North Asia, and Northern Europe, it grows on peat or acidic s ...

'' (cottongrass) in Europe, but has also been found on ''

Scirpus sylvaticus ''Scirpus sylvaticus'', the wood clubrush, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family. ''Scirpus sylvaticus'' can reach 1 m, and has triangular stems. ''S. sylvaticus'' widespread in Eurasia, is very common in the European part of Rus ...

'' (wood clubrush) and, in North America, ''

Scirpus atrovirens ''Scirpus atrovirens'', known as dark-green bulrush, is a perennial sedge native to wetlands of eastern Canada and the United States. It is sometimes called dark green bulsedge, black bulrush, or green bulrush. It was first formally named by Ca ...

'' (dark-green bulrush). In Europe, ''Kriegeria eriophori'' has been recorded from Germany and the Czech Republic; in North America, from Canada and the USA. It appears to be rare or rarely recorded.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q10548669, from2=Q10548670 Basidiomycota genera Pucciniomycotina Yeasts Taxa described in 1891 Taxa named by Giacomo Bresadola