Australasian truffle-like fungi. VIII. Gummiglobus and Andebbia gen. nov. (Basidiomycotina, Mesophelliaceae) and a supplement to the nomenclatural bibliography of Basidiomycotina

Abstract

Two new genera, Gummiglobus with two species and the monotypic Andebbia, are described as segregates from the genus Mesophellia. Both genera have minutely ornamented spores. The species of Gummiglobus, moreover, have columellae with wedge-shaped to digitate or strand-like projections that extend to the endocutis of the peridium and are embedded in a remarkable gummy tissue.

Fine‐scale habitat preferences and habitat partitioning by three mycophagous mammals in tropical wet sclerophyll forest, north‐eastern Australia

“…Bettongs may use ridges to avoid dense vegetation, but there are likely to be other advantages. They are small animals (1.2 kg; Vernes 1999) with large home ranges (60 ha; Vernes & Pope 2001), and the truffles they feed upon are patchily distributed (Trappe et al . 1996a,b).…”

Effect of fire on northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) foraging behaviour

“…Each quadrat was centred on a recent bettong digging, so the amounts of fungus recovered represent biomass at bettong foraging points after a foraging event, rather than field biomass of fungus per se. Fruit‐bodies are typically distributed as discrete clusters (Trappe et al 1996a,b). To reduce the likelihood of resampling the same cluster of fruit‐bodies, we chose a minimum distance between quadrats of at least 20 m. On a broader scale, quadrat location was constrained so that equal numbers of quadrats fell within each of the three major topographic categories (gully, mid‐slope, ridge), in order to sample across the full range of topographic features.…”

“…The remainder of the diet comprises mostly subterranean vegetation such as grass roots, tubers and ground‐orchids (Johnson & McIlwee 1997; Vernes et al 2001). Truffles are typically distributed non‐randomly in the landscape as discrete clusters (Trappe et al 1996a,b), often in association with the root‐mass near the base of host trees (Claridge et al 1993). Bettongs locate clusters of truffles by olfaction (Donaldson & Stoddart 1994) and when bettongs forage for any type of subterranean food, they leave behind characteristic cup‐shaped diggings (Garkaklis et al 1998) that can be differentiated from the diggings made by other animals (Triggs 1996).…”

Managing habitat for mycophagous (fungus-feeding) mammals: a burning issue?

“…The Mesophelliaceae is a unique family; its phenology cannot be inferred from a relationship to observed mushrooms. Studies by Dell et al (1990) and Trappe et al (1992Trappe et al ( , 1996a show an anatomy typical of fungi that expand mostly through cell growth. Most of the fruit-body tissues are composed of narrow cells with strongly gelatinised walls and few or no inflated cells.…”

“…This hypothesis was based initially on the observation that the foraging activity by these animals for hypogeous fungi in a limited number of habitats may increase substantially very soon after a forest is burnt (Christensen 1980;Taylor 1991;Vernes 2000). In all cases, the fungi in question were members of the family Mesophelliaceae (Trappe et al 1992(Trappe et al , 1996a, particularly the genus Mesophellia, which is endemic to eucalypt-dominated forests and woodlands of Australia (Dell et al 1990, Trappe et al 1996b) and specific to certain kinds of habitats (Claridge et al 2000b). Mesophellia fruit-bodies have a hard, brittle outer skin or peridium, a fleshy inner peridium in which mycorrhizae of associated host trees develop, and a central core of firm to leathery tissue which is the main nutritional component sought by the animal mycophagist (Claridge and Cork 1994 -see Figure 1).…”