Kalaharituber

Kalaharituber is a fungal genus in the family Pezizaceae.[1] It is a monotypic genus, whose single truffle-like species, K. pfeilii, is found in the Kalahari Desert, as well as in other parts of southern Africa (namely Botswana, Namibia and South Africa).[2][3][4]

Kalaharituber
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Pezizomycetes
Order: Pezizales
Family: Pezizaceae
Genus: Kalaharituber
Trappe & Kagan-Zur (2005)
Species:
K. pfeilii
Binomial name
Kalaharituber pfeilii
(Henn.) Trappe & Kagan-Zur (2005)
Synonyms
  • Terfezia pfeilii Henn. (1895)

Taxonomy

The fungus was first described scientifically in 1895 by German mycologist Paul Christoph Hennings as Terfezia pfeilii.[5] It was moved to its own genus in 2005 by James Trappe and Varda Kagan-Zur.[6]

Description

Fruiting bodies can be up to 12 cm in diameter. These weigh approximately 200 grams, although larger rains (which affect weight) can cause them to weigh twice as much.[2] These fruits grow close to the surface, which causes surface cracks on the ground above[3][7] after rains. These fruiting bodies can occur as much as 40 cm away from the main hyphae.[7]

Habitat

K. pfeilii is found the Kalahari Desert, as well as in other arid regions of South Africa, Angola, Botswana and Namibia. It is found in soils with a pH ranging from 5.5 to 6.5, with a sand content varying from 94%-97%, a clay content varying from 2%-5% and a silt content varying from 1%-4%.[7]

Mycorrhizal relations with plants

K. pfeilii is known to form an ectomycorrhizal relationship with watermelon, and is suspected to have a number of other possible relationships with other plant species. These include Sorghum bicolor, Eragrostis spp., Grewia flava,[3][4] several species of acacia,[7] and Cynodon dactylon.[3]

Edibility

K. pfeilii is eaten by meerkats, hyenas, baboons and bat-eared foxes, as well as humans. According to a case study by the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the fruiting body is eaten by the Khoisan of the Kalahari. Some commercial use of the species occurs.[2]

Conservation

The current populations of K. pfeilii are thought to be in deterioration, with possible causes advanced being over-harvesting, climate change or the land practices used in K. pfeilii habitats.[3][4]

gollark: Secondly, ██████ Siri is not just a threat within Minecraft. An unfriendly AI is a threat to everybody.
gollark: Exactly.
gollark: If you try and use a "staff of traveling" from some Minecraft modpack in, I don't know, OpenTTD, that will also not work and does not exist you idiotic hexahedron.
gollark: If you try and use a "burst laser II" from FTL: Faster than Light in Minecraft, guess what, you can't and the item doesn't even exist.
gollark: > if it works in one video game, it should work in another video game tooFirstly, that makes absolutely no sense and is utterly wrong.

References
  1. Lumbsch TH, Huhndorf SM. (December 2007). "Outline of Ascomycota – 2007". Myconet. Chicago, USA: The Field Museum, Department of Botany. 13: 1–58. Archived from the original on 2009-03-18.
  2. "Desert truffles - Australia and the Kalahari". www.anbg.gov.au. Australian National Botanical Gardens. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  3. "Home - Kalaharituber pfeilii F3 v1.0". genome.jgi.doe.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-29.
  4. Initiative, The Global Fungal Red List. "Kalaharituber pfeilii". iucn.ekoo.se. Retrieved 2017-03-26.
  5. Hennings, P. (1895). "Fungi camerunenses I". Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie. 22: 72–111.
  6. Ferdman, Y.; Aviram, S.; Roth-Bejerano, N.; Trappe, J.M.; Kagan-Zur, V. (2005). "Phylogenetic studies of Terfezia pfeilii and Choiromyces echinulatus (Pezizales) support new genera for southern African truffles: Kalaharituber and Eremiomyces". Mycological Research. 109 (2): 237–245. doi:10.1017/S0953756204001789.
  7. "Desert Truffles" (PDF). FUNGI Magazine.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.