Bruceomyces
| Bruceomyces | |
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Bruceomyces
Rikkinen (2012)
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| Type species | |
| Bruceomyces castoris (Rikkinen) Rikkinen (2012)
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Brucea Rikkinen (2003) |
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Bruceomyces is a fungal genus in the division Ascomycota, containing the single species Bruceomyces castoris. The relationship of Bruceomyces to other taxa within the order Lecanorales is unknown (incertae sedis), and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any family.[1]
Contents
Taxonomy
A monotypic genus, Bruceomyces contains the single species Bruceomyces castoris. Brucea is the original name of Bruceomyces, published by Finnish mycologist Jouko Rikkinen in 2003.[2] Rikkinen and colleagues renamed the genus in 2012 after it was discovered that Brucea was a junior homonym of a plant genus.[3] The generic name honors Professor Bruce McCune, who studied western North American lichen flora. The specific epithet castoris means "beaver", "which play an important role in the ecology of resinicolous fungi in the Pacific Northwest".[2]
Description
Consisting of a rounded protuberance (the capillitium) at the end of a straight or curved thin brownish-black stalk, the fruit body ranges from 0.8 to 3 mm tall. The capillitum is typically 0.20–0.31 mm in diameter, while the stalk thickness is 85–135 µm. The thick-walled asci (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, measuring 15–20 by 7–9 µm, set upon stalks that are 20–25 µm. Spores are pale brown, ellipsoidal, and measure 7.0–8.3 by 4.4–5.1 µm. The spore walls have longitudinal wrinkles that can be visualized with light microscopy. Paraphyses are 2.5–3.5 µm thick and have thick septa (cross-walls). Bruceomyces castoris is a calicioid fungus, meaning that it releasing a powdery spore mass (the mazaedium) on the surface of the apothecium.[2]
Habitat and distribution
Bruceomyces castoris was isolated from the sap and chewed wood found in beaver teeth scars at the base of living grand fir trees in a wooded area by a beaver pond in Polk County, Oregon. Other trees in the area included Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Oregon maple (Acer macrophyllum), and red alder (Alnus rubra).[2]
See also
List of Ascomycota genera incertae sedis
