Hydnoid fungi
Encyclopedia
The hydnoid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota
with basidiocarps (fruit bodies) producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the genus
Hydnum
("hydnoid" means Hydnum-like), but it is now known that not all hydnoid species are closely related.
paid particular attention to the group, producing a series of papers reviewing the taxonomy
of hydnoid fungi.
The original genus Hydnum is still current, but is now restricted to the type species
, Hydnum repandum, and its relatives in the family Hydnaceae
. Other species originally described in Hydnum have been reassigned to various genera in various families, including the Auriscalpiaceae
, Bankeraceae
, Hericiaceae
, Hydnodontaceae, Hymenochaetaceae
, Lachnocladiaceae
, Lentariaceae
, Meruliaceae
, Phanerochaetaceae
, Schizoporaceae
, and Thelephoraceae
.
(cap) and stipe
(stem) are collectively known as the stipitate hydnoid fungi and are often studied as a group because of their ecological similarity. The species concerned are now referred to the genera Bankera
, Hydnellum
, Phellodon
, and Sarcodon
. All are ectomycorrhizal, belong in the Bankeraceae, and are considered to be indicator species
of old, species-rich forests. In Europe, at least, many are of conservation concern and feature on national or regional red lists
of threatened fungal species. In the United Kingdom the stipitate hydnoid fungi have been given Biodiversity Action Plan
status which has increased interest in the group and has generated funding to be put into survey work and other research.
Species of Hydnum, as well as some tropical species of Beenakia
, Climacodon
and Terenodon
, are also stipitate and hydnoid, but have different ecological requirements.
. Genera that have hydnoid or odontioid representatives include Dentipellis, Dentocorticium
, Mycoacia
, Odonticium, Radulodon
, Sarcodontia
, and Steccherinum
.
, often referred to as "tooth fungi". Several bracket fungi
have teeth instead of pores, including species of Climacodon and Echinodontium
. The ear-pick fungus and other species of Auriscalpium
are hydnoid, as is the odd jelly fungus Pseudohydnum gelatinosum
.
Basidiomycota
Basidiomycota is one of two large phyla that, together with the Ascomycota, comprise the subkingdom Dikarya within the Kingdom Fungi...
with basidiocarps (fruit bodies) producing spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. They are colloquially called tooth fungi. Originally such fungi were referred to the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Hydnum
Hydnum
Hydnum is a genus of fungi in the Hydnaceae family. They are notable for their unusual spore-bearing structures of teeth rather than gills. The best known are the edible species Hydnum repandum and H. rufescens. The word is derived from udnon/ύδνον, an Ancient Greek word for truffle...
("hydnoid" means Hydnum-like), but it is now known that not all hydnoid species are closely related.
History
Hydnum was one of the original genera created by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum of 1753. It contained all species of fungi with fruit bodies bearing pendant, tooth-like projections. Subsequent authors described around 900 species in the genus. With increasing use of the microscope, it became clear that not all tooth fungi were closely related and most Hydnum species were gradually moved to other genera. The Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas GeesteranusRudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus
Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus, born 20 January 1911 in The Hague, died May 18 2003 in Oegstgeest, was a Dutch mycologist.-References:...
paid particular attention to the group, producing a series of papers reviewing the taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of hydnoid fungi.
The original genus Hydnum is still current, but is now restricted to the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
, Hydnum repandum, and its relatives in the family Hydnaceae
Hydnaceae
The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not...
. Other species originally described in Hydnum have been reassigned to various genera in various families, including the Auriscalpiaceae
Auriscalpiaceae
The Auriscalpiaceae are a family of fungi in the Russulales order. Like much of the Russulales, it has been defined through molecular phylogeny, and includes physically dissimilar species, such as the tooth fungus Auriscalpium and the gilled, often shelf-like members of Lentinellus. The family...
, Bankeraceae
Bankeraceae
The Bankeraceae are a family of fungi in the order Boletales. Taxa are terrestrial, and ectomycorrhizal with species such as Pinaceae or Fagaceae.-External links:*...
, Hericiaceae
Hericiaceae
The Hericiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. The best known genus is Hericium, species of which are valued for their medicinal properties in Oriental medicine. Taxa are mainly known from north temperate regions, and are saprobic on rotting wood...
, Hydnodontaceae, Hymenochaetaceae
Hymenochaetaceae
The Hymenochaetaceae are a family of fungi in the order Hymenochaetales. The family contains several species that are implicated in many diseases of broad-leaved and coniferous trees, causing heart rot, canker and root diseases, and also esca disease of grapevines...
, Lachnocladiaceae
Lachnocladiaceae
The Lachnocladiaceae are a family of fungi in the Russulales order. The family contains a total of 124 species in 8 genera. Species of this family, which have a widespread distribution in both tropical and temperate zones, are typically found on decaying coniferous or deciduous wood....
, Lentariaceae
Lentariaceae
The Lentariaceae are a family of fungi belonging in what is classically known as the Gomphales order, or cladistically as the gomphoid-phalloid clade. First described by Swiss mycologist Walter Jülich in 1981, the family has 3 genera and 23 species....
, Meruliaceae
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. The family was formally circumscribed by English mycologist Carleton Rea in...
, Phanerochaetaceae
Phanerochaetaceae
The Phanerochaetaceae are a family of fungi in the order Polyporales.-Genera:*Amethicium*Antrodiella*Australicium*Australohydnum*Byssomerulius*Candelabrochaete*Ceriporia*Ceriporiopsis*Climacodon*Hjortstamia...
, Schizoporaceae
Schizoporaceae
Schizoporaceae are a family of fungi in the order Hymenochaetales. These are saprobic, and cause white rots of standing and fallen wood of coniferous and broadleaved trees...
, and Thelephoraceae
Thelephoraceae
Thelephoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Thelephorales. This grouping of mushrooms is commonly known as the "leathery earthfans"....
.
Description and genera
The fruit bodies of hydnoid fungi are diverse, but all produce their spores on the surface of pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections.Stipitate hydnoid fungi
Some terrestrial species producing fruit bodies with a pileusPileus (mycology)
The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus...
(cap) and stipe
Stipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
(stem) are collectively known as the stipitate hydnoid fungi and are often studied as a group because of their ecological similarity. The species concerned are now referred to the genera Bankera
Bankera
The Bankera are a genus of fungi in the family Bankeraceae.-External links:...
, Hydnellum
Hydnellum
Hydnellum is a genus of tooth fungus of the family Bankeraceae in the order Thelephorales. The genus is widely distributed, and contains 38 species. The fruit bodies of its members grow by slowly enveloping bits of grass and vegetation around them. They are too tough and woody to eat comfortably...
, Phellodon
Phellodon
Phellodon is a genus of fungi in the family Bankeraceae. The genus contains 16 species found in Europe and North America. Phellodon was circumscribed by Finnish mycologist Petter Karsten in 1881.-Species:*Phellodon atratus...
, and Sarcodon
Sarcodon
Sarcodon is a genus of fungi in the family Bankeraceae.The Bankeraceae family are characterized by having spines rather than the usual gills with white spores.-External links:*...
. All are ectomycorrhizal, belong in the Bankeraceae, and are considered to be indicator species
Indicator species
An indicator species is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment. For example, a species may delineate an ecoregion or indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change...
of old, species-rich forests. In Europe, at least, many are of conservation concern and feature on national or regional red lists
Regional Red List
A Regional Red List is a report of the threatened status of species within a certain country or region. It is based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, an inventory of the conservation status of species on a global scale...
of threatened fungal species. In the United Kingdom the stipitate hydnoid fungi have been given Biodiversity Action Plan
Biodiversity Action Plan
A Biodiversity Action Plan is an internationally recognized program addressing threatened species and habitats and is designed to protect and restore biological systems. The original impetus for these plans derives from the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity...
status which has increased interest in the group and has generated funding to be put into survey work and other research.
Species of Hydnum, as well as some tropical species of Beenakia
Beenakia
Beenakia is a genus of fungi in the Clavariadelphaceae family. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains seven species....
, Climacodon
Climacodon
Climacodon is a genus of fungi in the family Phanerochaetaceae. The widespread genus contains six species....
and Terenodon
Terenodon
Terenodon is a genus of fungi in the Gomphaceae family. A monotypic family, it contains the single species Terenodon serenus, described by Dutch mycologist Rudolph Arnold Maas Geesteranus in 1971....
, are also stipitate and hydnoid, but have different ecological requirements.
Resupinate hydnoid fungi
The largest group of fungi formerly placed in the genus Hydnum are wood-rotting species, forming patch-like fruit bodies on dead attached branches, logs, stumps, and fallen wood. Species with small "teeth" (just a millimetre or so long) are sometimes described as "odontioid" (tooth-like). These resupinate hydnoid species are not treated collectively, but form part of the corticioid fungiCorticioid fungi
The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps that are formed on the undersides of dead attached or fallen branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or patch fungi...
. Genera that have hydnoid or odontioid representatives include Dentipellis, Dentocorticium
Dentocorticium
Dentocorticium is a genus of fungi in the family Polyporaceae.-External links:* at Index Fungorum...
, Mycoacia
Mycoacia
Mycoacia is a genus of fungi in the family Meruliaceae.-External links:*...
, Odonticium, Radulodon
Radulodon
Radulodon is a genus of fungi in the family Meruliaceae.-External links:* at Index Fungorum...
, Sarcodontia
Sarcodontia
Sarcodontia is a genus of fungi in the family Meruliaceae.-External links:* at Index Fungorum...
, and Steccherinum
Steccherinum
Steccherinum is a genus of fungi in the Meruliaceae family. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains 33 species.-Species:*Steccherinum aggregatum*Steccherinum alaskense*Steccherinum albidum*Steccherinum albofibrillosum...
.
Additional hydnoid fungi
Other hydnoid fungi include a group of conspicuous, wood-rotting species with long spines belonging to the genus HericiumHericium
Hericium is a genus of edible mushrooms in the Hericiaceae family. Species in this genus are white and fleshy and grow on dead or dying wood; fruiting bodies resemble a mass of fragile icicle-like spines that are suspended from either a branched supporting framework or from a tough, unbranched...
, often referred to as "tooth fungi". Several bracket fungi
Bracket fungus
Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, among many groups of the fungi in the phylum Basidiomycota. Characteristically, they produce shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting bodies called conks that lie in a close planar grouping of separate or interconnected horizontal rows...
have teeth instead of pores, including species of Climacodon and Echinodontium
Echinodontium
Echinodontium is a genus of fungi in the family Echinodontiaceae.-Species:*Echinodontium ballouii H.L. Gross *Echinodontium japonicum Imazeki *Echinodontium ryvardenii Bernicchia & Piga...
. The ear-pick fungus and other species of Auriscalpium
Auriscalpium
Auriscalpium is a genus of mushrooms typifying the family Auriscalpiaceae and characterized by in part by rough-walled, amyloid spores that are produced on pendant spines, hence it is considered to be a tooth fungus. The type species, A...
are hydnoid, as is the odd jelly fungus Pseudohydnum gelatinosum
Pseudohydnum gelatinosum
Pseudohydnum gelatinosum is an edible mushroom, which is common from Alaska to northern California...
.
External links
- Scottish stipitate hydnoid brochure http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/assets/saving-species/saving-species-publications/Scotland%27s%20rare%20tooth%20fungi%20mgt%20guide%20FINAL%20PDF%20lr.pdf
- AmericanMushrooms.com: Tooth Fungi
- Pinewood tooth fungi species profile