Tremella brasiliensis

Tremella brasiliensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Tremellomycetes
Order: Tremellales
Family: Tremellaceae
Genus: Tremella
Species:
T. brasiliensis
Binomial name
Tremella brasiliensis
(Möller) Lloyd (1922)
Synonyms

Tremella lutescens var. brasiliensis Möller (1895)

Tremella brasiliensis is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces yellow, lobed to firmly foliaceous, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead branches of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from Brazil.

Taxonomy

Tremella brasiliensis was first published in 1895 by German mycologist Alfred Möller as a variety of the superficially similar European species Tremella lutescens (now regarded as a synonym of Tremella mesenterica).[1] It was raised to species level by American mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1922.

Description

Fruit bodies are gelatinous, whitish to yellow to bright orange-yellow, up to 3 cm (1.5 in) across, and lobed to frondose. Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, 25 to 45 by 12 to 30 μm. The basidiospores are globose, smooth, 14 to 20 μm across.[2][3]

Similar species

Tremella mesenterica, described from Europe but reported from South America, is similarly coloured but has smaller basidia and smaller, ellipsoid spores (10 to 16 by 6 to 9.5 μm). Naematelia aurantia, described from North America but reported from South America, is also bright yellow but is a parasite of Stereum fruit bodies (amongst which it typically occurs) and also has much smaller basidia and spores (5.5 to 9 by 4.5 to 7 μm).[4]

Elsewhere, Tremella philippinensis is equally large-spored and was considered conspecific by Roberts & Spooner.[5] It was originally described as a whitish species or possibly pale yellow, but its status is uncertain.[6] Tremella grandibasidia, described from North America, is another large-spored, yellow species of uncertain status.[6]

Habitat and distribution

Tremella brasiliensis is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host species is unknown.[3] It is found on dead, attached or fallen branches of broad-leaved trees.

The species was described from Brazil and has also been reported from Panama[7] and Costa Rica.[6] Bandoni & Ginns considered that collections from Japan also represented Tremella brasiliensis.[6] Roberts & Spooner treated the species as a synonym of Tremella philippinensis and recorded the latter from Brunei and Australia.[5]

References

  1. ^ Moller A (1895). Protobasidiomyceten. Vol. 8, Botanische Mittheilungen aus den Tropen. Jena: Gustav Fischer.
  2. ^ Roberts P, de Meijer AAR. (1997). "Macromycetes from the state of Paraná, Brazil. 6. Sirobasidiaceae & Tremellaceae". Mycotaxon. 64: 261–283.
  3. ^ a b Chen C-J (1998). Morphological and molecular studies in the genus Tremella. Berlin: Cramer. p. 225. ISBN 3-443-59076-4.
  4. ^ Roberts P. (1995). "British Tremella species I: Tremella aurantia and T. mesenterica". Mycologist. 9 (3): 110–114. doi:10.1016/S0269-915X(09)80270-X.
  5. ^ a b Roberts PJ, Spooner BM (1998). "Heterobasidiomycetes from Brunei Darussalam". Kew Bulletin. 97 (3): 631–650. doi:10.2307/4110483.
  6. ^ a b c d Bandoni R, Ginns J (1998). "Notes on Tremella mesenterica and allied species". Canadian Journal of Botany. 76 (9): 1544–1557. doi:10.1139/b98-094.
  7. ^ Lowy B. (1971). Flora Neotropica 6: Tremellales. New York: Hafner. ISBN 0-89327-220-5.