''Stegiacantha'' is a fungal

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 ...

in the family

Meruliaceae The Meruliaceae are a family of fungi in the order Polyporales. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 47 genera and 420 species. , Index Fungorum accepts 645 species in the family. Taxonomy The family was formally circumscribed by E ...

. It is a

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 "unisp ...

genus, containing the single species ''Stegiacantha petaloides'', found in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. This fungus was first described by American mycologist

Curtis Gates Lloyd Curtis Gates Lloyd (July 17, 1859 – November 11, 1926) was an American mycologist known for both his research on the gasteroid and polypore fungi, as well as his controversial views on naming conventions in taxonomy. He had a herbarium with ab ...

in 1913 as ''Hydnum petaloides''.

Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus Rudolf Arnold Maas Geesteranus (20 January 1911 in The Hague – 18 May 2003 in Oegstgeest), was a Dutch mycologist whose work on both ascomycetes and basidiomycetes helped to refine fungal taxonomy over a career of nearly six decades. Early li ...

circumscribed ''Stegiacantha'' to contain the fungus in 1966. ''Stegiacantha petaloides'' has an orbicular

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

(in the shape of a flattened disc) measuring in diameter, and a slender stipe. It has yellowish spines covering its

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

References

Fungi of Africa Meruliaceae Monotypic Polyporales genera Taxa described in 1966 Taxa named by Rudolf Arnold Maas Geesteranus {{Polyporales-stub