Tremella wrightii
| Tremella wrightii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Tremellomycetes |
| Order: | Tremellales |
| Family: | Tremellaceae |
| Genus: | Tremella |
| Species: | T. wrightii
|
| Binomial name | |
| Tremella wrightii Berk. & M.A.Curtis (1868)
| |
Tremella wrightii is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces light brown to orange-brown, lobed, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead branches of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from Cuba.
Taxonomy
[edit]Tremella wrightii was first published in 1868 by British mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley and American mycologist Moses Ashley Curtis based on a collection made in Cuba by the American botanist Charles Wright, after whom it was named.
Description
[edit]Fruit bodies are firm, gelatinous, light brown to orange-brown, up to 5 cm (2 in) across, and lobed, often with inflated horn-like processes. Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (subglobose to ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, 11 to 18 by 8 to 11 μm. The basidiospores are ellipsoid, smooth, 5.5 to 7.5 by 4 to 6 μm.[1]
Similar species
[edit]Tremella coffeicolor and Phaeotremella frondosa, also reported from the neotropics, are both brown and gelatinous, but with lobes that are more frondose, less inflated, and not or rarely horn-like. Tremella laurisilvae, described from the Canary Islands, is very similar but said to be distinct.[2]
Habitat and distribution
[edit]Tremella wightii is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host species is unknown, though collections have been noted on pyrenomycetes.[3] It is found on dead, attached or fallen branches of broad-leaved trees.
The species was described from Cuba and has been reported from Brazil[1] Guyana, Trinidad, Panama,[4] Belize,[3] Cameroon, and Uganda.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Roberts P, de Meijer AAR. (1997). "Macromycetes from the state of Paraná, Brazil. 6. Sirobasidiaceae & Tremellaceae". Mycotaxon. 64: 261–283.
- ^ Kout J, Quijada L, Beltrán-Tejera E (2015). "A new species of Tremella from Macaronesia". Phytotaxa. 226 (1). doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.226.1.7.
- ^ a b Roberts P. (2008). "Heterobasidiomycetes from Belize". Kew Bulletin. 63 (1): 87–99. doi:10.1007/s12225-007-9006-6. JSTOR 20443411.
- ^ Lowy B. (1971). Flora Neotropica 6: Tremellales. New York: Hafner. ISBN 0-89327-220-5.
- ^ Roberts P. (2001). "Heterobasidiomycetes from Korup National Park, Cameroon". Kew Bulletin. 56 (1): 163–187. doi:10.2307/4119434. JSTOR 4119434.