Squamanita contortipes

Squamanita contortipes is a small mushroom species in the family Squamanitaceae, formerly in the Tricholomataceae. It was originally described in 1957 by American mycologist Alexander H. Smith and Daniel Elliot Stuntz as a member of Cystoderma. Paul Heinemann and David Thoen transferred it to the genus Squamanita in 1973.[1] Discovery of an unusual fruiting of this species where three fruitbodies grew on one, still fertile host pileus which was a species of Galerina proved that Squamanita was a mycoparasitic genus. Photos of this fruiting were published in 1994[2] and immediately republished and highlighted in 1995 in Nature magazine where the original discovery article was featured.[3] The species proved to be the Rosetta Stone[2] for deciphering the parasite from the host in graft-like fruitings. Normally, S. contortipes only forms one fruitbody on each parasitized host and the host normally fails to remain fertile and does not form its own pileus.[1]

Squamanita contortipes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Tricholomataceae
Genus:
Squamanita
Species:
S. contortipes
Binomial name
Squamanita contortipes
(A.H.Sm. & D.E.Stuntz) Heinem. & Thoen (1973)
Synonyms
  • Cystoderma contortipes A.H.Sm. & D.E.Stuntz (1957)
  • Squamanita scotica Bas (1965) nom. prov. & invalid.

References
  1. Heinemann P, Thoen D (1973). "Observations sur le genre Cystoderma". Bulletin de la Société Mycologique de France (in French). 89 (1): 5–34.
  2. Redhead SA, Ammirati JF, Walker GR, Norvell LL, Puccio MB (1994). "Squamanita contortipes, the Rosetta Stone of a mycoparasitic agaric genus". Canadian Journal of Botany. 72 (12): 1812–1824. doi:10.1139/b94-223.
  3. Gee H. (1995). "Mycological mystery tour". Nature. 375 (6529): 276. doi:10.1038/375276a0.


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