Salut à tous,

I have recently been sent an interesting hairy Ascomycete that I'm having trouble with. I hope someone here can help me with it...

On rotten indet. hardwood under Alnus near a stream, September 2014, Kent, U.K

Apothecia to 0.8 mm, hymenium grey (not really evident from photo!), hairs bright sulphur-yellow

Ascus tips IKI bb with calycina type apical ring, asci with croziers

Paraphyses filiform, septate, often branched around halfway up, with inconspicuous non-refractive vbs

Hairs lemon yellow at base but becoming hyaline towards tips, usually 2-4 septate. Tips +/-tapered into points. Encrusted with lemon-yellow resin

Ascospores 8.1-12.7 x 2.6-3.4 µm, with small bipolar droplets

Could it be that this belongs in the genus Amicodisca? It seems pretty close to HB7022 (ecologically speaking too!) but A.svrecekii is without croziers and seems unknown in Britain.....

I should also say that I only have one and a half dried apothecia left from the collection

Merci pour votre aide,

Nick

Brian Douglas, 05-10-2014 09:07

Re : Hyaloscyphaceae(?) on damp wood

Hi Nick,

This older post might be of interest:

http://www.ascofrance.com/forum/19589/amicodisca-sp-with-asci-with-croziers

The presence/absence of croziers is an interesting issue which hasn't yet been properly studied. The absence of croziers might indicate that the species is homothallic (i.e. can mate and produce fruitbodies with itself), as Zotto alludes to in the linked post.

I found something like an Amicodisca sp. down in Swansea, Wales UK, but didn't have time to fully investigate it when collected, and it didn't regrow when incubated. I doubt they're quite as rare in the UK as the FRDBI suggest (only two reports, and the first in 2008!).

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Brian

Hans-Otto Baral, 05-10-2014 09:16

Re : Hyaloscyphaceae(?) on damp wood

Seems to be an Amicodisca indeed. Enique had a species with croziers, but the spores were much larger and with a rather high oil content.

Amicodisca sp. ERD-5646. Pelos (3). Puerto de Ventana (Teverga), 28-VIII-2012, on Betula alba wood at 1650 m of altitude.

Zotto