Tremella brasiliensis | |
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Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Tremellomycetes |
Order: | Tremellales |
Family: | Tremellaceae |
Genus: | Tremella |
Species: | T. brasiliensis
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Binomial name | |
Tremella brasiliensis (Möller)
Lloyd (1922)
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Synonyms | |
Tremella lutescens var. brasiliensis Möller (1895) |
Tremella brasiliensis is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces yellow, lobed to firmly foliaceous, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead branches of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from Brazil.
Tremella brasiliensis was first published in 1895 by German mycologist Alfred Möller as a variety of the superficially similar European species Tremella lutescens (now regarded as a synonym of Tremella mesenterica). [1] It was raised to species level by American mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1922.
Fruit bodies are gelatinous, whitish to yellow to bright orange-yellow, up to 3 cm (1.5 in) across, and lobed to frondose. Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, 25 to 45 by 12 to 30 μm. The basidiospores are globose, smooth, 14 to 20 μm across. [2] [3]
Tremella mesenterica, described from Europe but reported from South America, is similarly coloured but has smaller basidia and smaller, ellipsoid spores (10 to 16 by 6 to 9.5 μm). Naematelia aurantia, described from North America but reported from South America, is also bright yellow but is a parasite of Stereum fruit bodies (amongst which it typically occurs) and also has much smaller basidia and spores (5.5 to 9 by 4.5 to 7 μm). [4]
Elsewhere, Tremella philippinensis is equally large-spored and was considered conspecific by Roberts & Spooner. [5] It was originally described as a whitish species or possibly pale yellow, but its status is uncertain. [6] Tremella grandibasidia, described from North America, is another large-spored, yellow species of uncertain status. [6]
Tremella brasiliensis is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host species is unknown. [3] It is found on dead, attached or fallen branches of broad-leaved trees.
The species was described from Brazil and has also been reported from Panama [7] and Costa Rica. [6] Bandoni & Ginns considered that collections from Japan also represented Tremella brasiliensis. [6] Roberts & Spooner treated the species as a synonym of Tremella philippinensis and recorded the latter from Brunei and Australia. [5]