Genus

Halocyphina

Species

villosa

Author

Kohlm. & E. Kohlm.

Class

Phylum Basidiomycota, Subdivision Agaricomycotina, Class Agaricomycetes, Subclass Agaricomycetidae

Order

Agaricales

Family

Marasmiaceae

Synonymy:

Description

Basidiomata 350-500 μm high, 310-440 μm diam. in the apex, 100-150 μm diam. in the stalk, cyphelloid, whitish or yellowish, turbinate or clavate, eventually funnel-shaped or cupulate, pedunculate, superficial in protected parts of the wood, soft, thin-walled, tomentose, solitary or gregarious. Peridium 25-40 μm thick, composed of closely packed hyaline, rarely branched hyphae with thin walls and rare clamp connections, (1.2-)3-4(-6) μm diam., external hairs up to 100 μm long, 4-5 μm diam. at the base, 1.5 μm at the apex, simple or dichotomously branched near the tip, hyaline. Basidia 13-22 × 5-9.5 μm, fourspored, clavate or cylindrical with a narrow base, non-septate, hyaline, with (two to) four evanescent sterigmata, about 3.5 μm long. Basidiospores 8-10.5 × (7-)8-9.5(-10.5) μm, subglobose, one-celled, smooth, hyaline, non-amyloid.

Key references:

Besitulo A, Moslem MA, Hyde KD. (2010) Occurrence and distribution of fungi in a mangrove forest on Siargao Island, Philippines. Botanica Marina [In Press].

Hibbett DS, Binder M. (2001) Evolution of marine mushrooms. The Biological Bulletin 201: 319-322.

Jones EBG, Agerer R. (1992) Calathella mangrovii sp. nov. and observations on the mangrove fungus Halocyphina villosa. Botanica Marina 35:259-265.

Jones EBG, Pang KL (2012) Tropical aquatic fungi. Biodiversity and Conservation 21: 2403-2423. DOI:10.1007/s10531-011-0198-6.

Jones EBG, Alias SA, Pang KL (2013) Distribution of marine fungi and fungus-like organisms in the South China Sea and their potential use in industry and pharmaceutical application. Malaysian Journal Science 32 (SCS Special Issue): 119-130. `

Mouzouras R. (1986) Patterns of timber decay caused by marine fungi. In: The Biology of Marine Fungi (Moss ST, ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 341-353.

Panebianco C. (1994) Temperature requirements of selected marine fungi. Botanica Marina 37: 157 161.

Image: Halocyphina villosa. (a) Basidiomata on wood. (b, c) Basidia and basidiospores
arranged in layers. (d) Wall of basidiome composed of cells of textura angularis. (e) Globose
basidiospores. Scale bar: a=300 μm; b =100 μm; c = 30 μm; d, e=10 μm. Photo reproduced with the permission of the National Taiwan Ocean University.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

dead mangrove wood.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Andaman Islands, Australia, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei, Columbia, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Nicobar Islands, Philippines, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, USA.

Pertinent Literature:

Nova Hedw. 9: 100 (1965)

Comments:

Halocyphina villosa is one of the core mangrove species, often colonizing the prop roots of Rhizophora species and commonly found in Taiwan. Hibbett & Binder (2001) assigned the species to the Agaricales (based on molecular data), rather than the Cyphellaceae as proposed by Jones & Agerer (1992) and Kirk et al. (2001). The species has been shown to cause white rot attack of wood (Mouzouras 1986) and growth is markedly inhibited by low temperatures (Panebianco 1994). Besitulo et al. (2010) indicated that a collection of Halocyphina from the Philippines may constitute a new species and future collections should be examined in greater detail. A monotypic tropical genus that has a widespread distribution and species that has lost ballistospory (Hibbett and Binder 2001). A phylogenetic study showed that H. villosa formed a sister group with another marine basidiomycete Nia vibrissa with high statistical support, sharing a clade with the marine cyphelloid basidiomycete Calathella mangrovei (Hibbett and Binder 2001). These three marine basidiomycetes have all lost the ability to forcefully eject their basidiospores and considered to be an adaption to an aquatic environment.

Images

Fig 2