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"FIELDIANA
Botany
Published by Field Museum of Natural History
Volume 38, No. 4 October 14, 1976
Acutocapillitium, a New Genus in the Lycoperdaceae
PATRICIO PONCE DE LEON
ASSOCIATE CURATOR
CRYPTOGAMIC HERBARIUM
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
The generic name Bovistoides, created by Lloyd (1919), was
based on the character of the capillitium thread of a single specimen
sent to him from South Africa. Lloyd stated that this was a new
type of capillitium, distinguished from that of Disciseda Czernaiew
by its short, simple thread with acute ends.
After comparing the capillitium of the Lloyd type of Bovistoides
simplex (Lloyd cat. no. 32447) with that of other specimens of
Disciseda, I found no real differences, and in my opinion this speci-
men is a Disciseda, as listed by Ainsworth (1971), probably D. mini-
mum Dring from Africa.
In 1922, Lloyd established the species Bovistoides torrendii for
a specimen sent him from Brazil, based on its single capillitium
thread with acute ends, although the plant differed from his
Bovistoides simplex in all other characters, including habitat.
In 1974, I received for identification some Puerto Rican material
that included a specimen of Lycoperdaceae (taken from a termite
nest) with a single capillitium thread with acute ends. The speci-
mens from Puerto Rico and Brazil are quite similar in characters
and habitat, with slight differences only in the peridia and spores,
but neither has any of the characters of Disciseda. It therefore
appears that a new genus is necessary to accomodate these two
species.
The generic name Bovistoides cannot be used, as it is based on a
misidentification and its type species must be put into synonymy
with Disciseda. The characters of B. torrendii do not correspond
with those of the genus Bovistoides based on B. simplex. The
specific epithet, however, is retained.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-25180
US ISSN 0015-0746
The Library of the
Nov. 09 1976
Uutvel SIty or Hanwis
at Urbana- -Champaign
Publication 1237 23
10] oa
eo 216 Be ey
24 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 38
CHICAGO NATURAL}; | | | |
HISTORY MUSEUM |
inches
NEGATIVE NO. centimeters
542 9h perl | 4°
Fic. 1. Type of Bovistoides simplex Lloyd.
The new material was also compared with the type specimen of
Bovistina atrogleba Long & Stouffer (1941), described as having a
simple capillitium with acute ends. However, their material also
appears to belong in the genus Disciseda.
Acutocapillitium gen. nov.
Type species of the genus: Bovistoides torrendii Lloyd [= A. tor-
rendii (Lloyd) P. Ponce] Myc. Notes 66: 1116 (pl. 197, f. 2108-9).
1922.
Type specimen: Torrend s.n., Brazil (Lloyd cat. no. 32448) (BPI).
Basidiocarp epigeic, globose, sessile, 4-6 cm. in diameter, peridia double;
exoperidia velutinous, smooth or with polygonal warts, glabrous or villous, white;
endoperidia firm; dehiscence irregular; gleba dark, powdery; subgleba none;
capillitium simple, straight, tapering to both ends; spores globose, not pedicellate,
smooth or spinose.
Habitat: On stumps or termite nests.
Only two species known in tropical America (Brazil and Puerto
Rico).
PONCE DE LEON: ACUTOCAPILLITIUM 25
Fructificationes lignicolae, globosae; peridium duplex; exoperidium velutinum
laeve vel polygonato-areolatum, cremeum; endoperidium firmum, irregulariter
reptum dehiscens; gleba pulveracea, fusca; subgleba nulla; capillitium simplex,
rectum, acuminatum ad ambos apices; sporae globosae, pedicellis nullis, laeves
vel spinosae.
Species aut nidis termitum incola, aut lignicola.
Taxonomic position of the genus:
The two peridia and the pulverulent gleba with a well-developed
capillitium place this genus in the Lycoperdaceae. By the absence
of the subgleba it appears to be related to Bovista Persoon. Al-
though the endoperidium is rigid, its microscopic structure is like
that of Lycoperdon Persoon and Bovista, and not that of Sclero-
derma Persoon. The exoperidium has hairs of irregular cells as does
that of some Lycoperdons and some Morganellas. The irregular
dehiscence of the peridia resembles that of some Bovistas. There is
no similarity to the opening of the peridia of the Lycoperdons, the
Calvatias, or the Discisedas. The lignaceous habit is found only
in Lycoperdon pyriforme Persoon, the genus Morganella Zeller,
and Bovista acuminata (Bosc) Kreisel, although Acutocapillitium
does not appear to be directly related to either of them.
Acutocapillitium torrendii (Lloyd) P. Ponce, comb. nov.
Bovistoides torrendii Lloyd, Myc. Notes. 66: 116 pl. 197, f. 2108-9.
1922.
Type specimen: Torrend s.n., Brazil (Lloyd cat. no. 32448) (BPI).
Basidiocarp globose, sessile, lignicolous, 3-4 cm. in diameter; peridia double,
exoperidium smooth, thin, glabrous, white; endoperidium firm, rigid, brown,
dehiscence by irregular rupture of the peridia; gleba dark, black in mass, with a
purplish tinge, powdery; sterile base none; capillitium of simple, straight, short
threads, 150 u long, brown or dark amber, 12-15 y in diameter at the thickest part,
sharply tapering to both ends; spores globose, 5-6 yu in diameter, dark brown, not
pedicellate, smooth or very minutely rugose.
Habitat: On a stump. As Lloyd said, it is an unusual habitat for
a puffball as large as this. Only Lycoperdon pyriforme, the species
of the genus Morganella, and Bovista acuminata live on wood.
Only one collection, from Brazil.
The designation of this species as type of the genus appears
logical because it has a good description, a clear illustration, and the
name honors a well-known mycologist and active collector in the
tropics of South America.
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Fic. 4. Capillitium and spores of Acutocapillitium portoricense P. Ponce.
27
28 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 38
Acutocapillitium portoricense P. Ponce, sp. nov.
Fructificationes supra termitum nidum globosae; peridium duplex; exoperidium
polygonato-areolatum, album; endoperidium firmum, irregulariter dehiscens, usque
ad vicinitatem basis ruptum; gleba pulveracea, fusca, brunnea; subgleba nulla;
capillitium simplex, rectum, acuminatum ad ambos apices 12-15 diametro, 150
longum; sporae globosae, 5-6 u diametro, brunneae, pedicello nullo, spinosae.
Termitum nidis incola. Puerto Rico. Typus: Univ. Puerto Rico Collection No. 886,
Holotype (UPR, F).
Type specimen: Collector unknown, Hato Rey, Loiza Aldea,
University of Puerto Rico Tropical Myc. Laboratory, Collection No.
886 (holotype). (UPR, F).
Basidiocarp globose, sessile, 3-4 cm. in diameter; peridia double; exoperidium
villous, white, with polygonal warts composed of short, pluricellular hairs converg-
ing at the apices into a common tip, their cells irregular and arising from a thin,
basal layer of hyphae; endoperidium firm, rigid, about 2 mm. thick, brown, con-
sisting of several layers of sclerotic hyphae, dehiscence by irregular rupture of
the peridia, the rupture lines running to near the base; gleba dark brown in mass,
powdery; sterile base none; capillitium of simple, short threads 150 long, 12-15
in diameter in the thickest part, light brown or yellow, sharply tapering to both
ends; capillitia forming cordlike filaments several threads thick, these radially
disposed from the center of the basidiocarp to the endoperidium; spores globose,
5-6 pin diameter, light brown, not pedicellate, spinose.
This material was collected on a termite nest; under one of the
specimens there still remains a portion of this structure.
Only one collection, consisting of three specimens on the same
substratum, from Puerto Rico.
REFERENCES
AHMAD, S.
1950. Morphology of Disciseda cervina. Mycologia, 42, pp. 148-160.
AINSWORTH, G. C.
1971. Dictionary of the Fungi. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew,
Surrey.
COKER, W.C. and J. N. COUCH
1928. The Gasteromycetes of the Eastern United States and Canada. 195 pp.
Univ. North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N.C.
CUNNINGHAM, G. H.
1942. The Gasteromycetes of Australia and New Zealand. Dunedin, N.Z. pp.
I-XV, 1-236; plates I-XXXVII.
DENNIS, R. W. G.
1935. Some West Indian Gasteromycetes, Kew Bull., 8, pp. 307-328.
PONCE DE LEON: ACUTOCAPILLITIUM 29
FISCHER, E.
1933. Gasteromycetae, in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenf., 2(7a), pp. 65-67.
KREISEL, H.
1967. Monographie der Gattung Bovista. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia, 25.
(6. Phytogenetischer Teil), pp. 198-207.
KREISEL, H. and D. M. DRING
1967. An emendation of the genus Morganella Zeller, in Feddes Repert., 74(2),
pp. 109-122, t. land IT.
LLoyD, C.G.
1903. Catastoma. Myc. Notes, 13, pp. 121-123.
1919. Bovistoides. Myc. Notes, 61, p. 883, pl. 127, f. 1517-18.
1922. Bovistoides. Myc. Notes, 66, p. 1,116, pl. 197, f. 2108-09.
LONG, W. G. and D. J. STOUFFER
1941. Studies in the Gasteromycetes, II. Bovistina, a new genus. Mycologia,
33(3), pp. 270-273.
MITCHEL, D.H., W.S. CHAPMAN, and G. GRIMES
1975. Studies in Disciseda (Gasteromycetes in Colorado). Mycologia, 67(3),
pp. 586-596.
SMARDA, F.
1958. Lycoperdaceae, Flora C.S.R., ser. B, 1, pp. 257-376.
SMITH, A. H.
1951. Puffballs and their allies in Michigan. Univ. of Mich. Press, Ann Arbor.
131 pages.
ZELLER, S. M.
1949. Keys to the orders, families, and genera of the Gasteromycetes. Mycologia,
41, pp. 36-58.
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