''Lepiota ananya'' is a gilled

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 ...

of the genus ''

Lepiota ''Lepiota'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae. All ''Lepiota'' species are ground-dwelling saprotrophs with a preference for rich, calcareous soils. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are agaricoid with whitish spores, typica ...

'' in the order

Agaricales The Agaricales are an order (biology), order of fungi in the division (mycology), division Basidiomycota. As originally conceived, the order contained all the agarics (gilled mushrooms), but subsequent research has shown that not all agarics are ...

. Known only to come from

Kerala State Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, India, it was described as new to science in 2009.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in a 2009 issue of the journal ''

Mycotaxon ''Mycotaxon'' was a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the nomenclature and taxonomy of fungi, including lichens. The journal was founded by Grégoire L. Hennebert and Richard P. Korf in 1974. They were frustrated that papers submitted ...

''. 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. * ...

collection was made in July 2005, in

Palode Palode is a town in Thiruvananthapuram district in the Indian state of Kerala. Palode town is from Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram city and from Nedumangad municipality. Thenmala Dam is from Palode, and the Ponmudi hills are 35 km. ...

, a village in the

Thiruvananthapuram district Thiruvananthapuram District () is the List of districts of Kerala, southernmost district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. The district was created in 1949, with its headquarters in the city of Thiruvananth ...

, India. The

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 ...

''ananya'' is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word for "unique".

Description

Fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

have

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

that are initially convex, becoming broadly convex and finally flattened with an umbo; the cap attains a diameter of . The cap surface is whitish, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, and has dark brown, pressed-down

fibrillose Fibrils () are structural biological materials found in nearly all living organisms. Not to be confused with fibers or filaments, fibrils tend to have diameters ranging from 10 to 100 nanometers (whereas fibers are micro to milli-scale struc ...

scales that are more concentrated in the center of the cap. The cap margin, initially curved inward before straightening in age, has fine grooves and a scalloped edge. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

are free from attachment to the

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

, and colored light yellow. They are crowded together closely, and interspersed with 3–4 tiers of lamellulae (short gills). The edges of the gills are finely fringed. The hollow, cylindrical

measures by thick, with a thicker base. The stem surface is whitish and fibrillose; the stem base arises from a white

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

. The stem bears a membranous, whitish

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

on its upper portion. The

flesh Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, ...

is up to 2 mm thick, whitish to pale yellow, and has no distinct odor.

Spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

s are amygdaliform (almond-shaped) with walls up to 1 μm thick, smooth,

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

(translucent), and measure 5.5–8 by 3.5–4.5

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

. The spores contain

refractive In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenome ...

oil droplets. The

basidia A basidium (: basidia) is a microscopic spore-producing structure found on the hymenophore of reproductive bodies of basidiomycete fungi. The presence of basidia is one of the main characteristic features of the group. These bodies are also ...

(spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, hyaline, contain oil droplets, and have dimensions of 13–21 by 8–10 μm. They are four-spored with

sterigmata In biology, a sterigma (: sterigmata) is a small supporting structure. It commonly refers to an extension of the basidium (the spore-bearing cells) consisting of a basal filamentous part and a slender projection which carries a spore at the tip ...

up to 5 μm long. Cheilocystidia (

cystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are o ...

on the gill edge) are abundant, and have a shape ranging from cylindrical to club-shaped to utriform (like a leather bottle). They are thin-walled, hyaline or pale yellowish, and measure 15–37 by 7.5–10 μm; there are no cystidia on the gill faces (pleurocystidia).

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

s are rare in 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 o ...

Habitat and distribution

The fruit bodies of ''Lepiota ananya'' grow single or scattered on the ground among decaying

litterfall Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent ...

. The species is known only from its type locality.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q6527730 ananya Fungi of India Fungi described in 2009 Fungus species

Taxonomy

Description

Habitat and distribution

See also

References

External links