Pirex

Pirex
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Polyporales
Family:
Meruliaceae
Genus:
Pirex

Type species
Pirex concentricus
(Cooke & Ellis) Hjortstam & Ryvarden (1985)
Synonyms[3]
  • Radulum concentricum Cooke & Ellis (1885)
  • Phlebia concentrica (Cooke & Ellis) Kropp & Nakasone (1985)[1]
  • Pseudolagarobasidium concentricum (Cooke & Ellis) Hjortstam (1995)[2]

Pirex is a fungal genus in the family Meruliaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single crust fungus Pirex concentricus. It is found in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, where it causes a white rot in woody hardwood and conifer debris generated by timber harvesting.[1]

Taxonomy

The species Pirex concentricus was originally described by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke and Job Bicknell Ellis in 1885 as Radulum concentricum. Ellis collected the type specimens from Oregon.[4] A century after Cooke's publication, Kurt Hjortstam and Leif Ryvarden circumscribed the new genus Pirex to contain this fungus, as they believed it to have a unique combination of traits that would not adequately fit into any other known genera. The name Pirex is an anagram of the fungal genus Irpex.[5]

In 1995, Hjortstam considered Pirex to be a synonym of Pseudolagarobasidium, and proposed the new combination Pseudolagarobasidium concentricum. Modern systematics considers the two genera to be distinct;[6] Pseudolagarobasidium is classified in the family Phanerochaetaceae. Hjortstam added Hydnum subvinosum Berk. & Broome to Pirex in 1987,[7] but this fungus is considered now a species of Radulodon.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Kropp, Bradley R.; Nakasone, Karen K. (1985). "Redisposition of Radulum concentricum (Aphyllophorales, Corticiaceae)". Mycotaxon. 24: 423–429.
  2. ^ Hjortstam, Kurt. (1995). "Two new genera and some new combinations of corticioid fungi (Basidiomycotina, Aphyllophorales) from tropical and subtropical areas". Mycotaxon. 54: 183–193.
  3. ^ "GSD Species Synonymy: Pirex concentricus (Cooke & Ellis) Hjortstam & Ryvarden". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  4. ^ Cooke, M.C. (1885). "Some exotic fungi". Grevillea. 14 (69): 11–14.
  5. ^ Hallenberg, Nils; Hjortstam, Kurt; Ryvarden, Leif (1985). "Pirex genus nova (Basidiomycetes, Corticiaceae)". Mycotaxon. 24: 287–291.
  6. ^ Hallenberg, Nils; Ryberg, Martin; Nilsson, R. Henrik; Wood, Alan R.; Wu, Sheng-Hua (2008). "Pseudolagarobasidium (Basidiomycota): on the reinstatement of a genus of parasitic, saprophytic, and endophytic resupinate fungi". Canadian Journal of Botany. 86 (11): 1319–1325. doi:10.1139/B08-088.
  7. ^ Hjortstam, K. (1987). "A check-list to genera and species of corticioid fungi (Hymenomycetes)". Windahlia. 17: :55–85.
  8. ^ "Record Details: Pirex subvinosus (Berk. & Broome) Hjortstam". Index Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2016-10-06.