Crystallodon
Crystallodon Alvarenga 2021, in Alvarenga & Gibertoni., Cryptogamie, Mycologie, 42(2), 17-24 (2021).
Etymology: From ‘crystallum’ (Lat., noun.) – crystal, and ‘odon’ (Greek, noun) – tooth.
Diagnosis: Basidiomata annual, resupinate, effused, closely adnate, gelatinous to crustaceous. Margin adnate, fimbriate. Hymenial surface covered by sharp-pointed sterile spines (hyphal pegs) formed by a thin core made of hyphae (hyphal core) enclosed by abundant crystals. Hyphal structure monomitic, hyphae clamped. Cystidia fusiform, cylindrical, often sinuous, some with refractive content. Hyphidia in hymenium, hyaline, thin-walled. Fertile hyphae, tortuous, forming 2-4 basidia at the apex, collapsed basidia often present. Basidia ellipsoid-ovoid, 4-celled, basidiospores cylindrical to broadly cylindrical, slightly curved, with oil droplets in the cytoplasm. Phylogenetically, the genus represents a new lineage in Auriculariales.
Index Fungorum Number: IF832484
Type species: Crystallodon subgelatinosum (Bodman) Alvarenga & Gibertoni 2021, in Alvarenga & Gibertoni., Cryptogamie, Mycologie, 42(2), 17-24 (2021).
Notes: Recently, Brazilian specimens displaying hyphal pegs were proposed to be attributed to two new genera, Adustochaete and Metulochaete (Alvarenga et al. 2019; Spirin et al. 2019). In Adustochaete, hyphal pegs are formed by smooth tramal hyphae and encrusted dendrohyphidia, while in Metulochaete hyphal pegs are formed by densely glued hyphae with strongly encrusted apical parts similar to metuloid cystidia. Therefore, so far, Crystallodon Alvarenga gen. nov. is the only genus among resupinate Auriculariales that has been reported to display hyphal pegs formed by a thin core of hyphae covered by angular crystals.
Species:
Crystallodon subgelatinosum (Bodman) Alvarenga & Gibertoni 2021
References:
Alvarenga, R. L. M., Spirin, V., Malysheva, V., Gibertoni, T. B., & Larsson, K. H. (2019). Two new genera and six other novelties in Heterochaete sensu lato (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota). Botany, 97(8), 439-451.
Alvarenga, R. L. M., & Gibertoni, T. B. (2021). Crystallodon Alvarenga gen. nov., a new genus of the Auriculariales from the Neotropics. Cryptogamie, Mycologie, 42(2), 17-24.
Spirin, V., Malysheva, V., Miettinen, O., Vlasák, J., Alvarenga, R. L. M., Gibertoni, T. B., ... & Larsson, K. H. (2019). On Protomerulius and Heterochaetella (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota). Mycological Progress, 18, 1079-1099.
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