Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: asco

#127: Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, causal agent of Snake Fungal Disease 2

Fungus Fact

#127: Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, causal agent of Snake Fungal Disease

Snakes of the Eastern United States are dying of a disease called Snake Fungal Disease (SFD). Recently, the cause of SFD was identified as the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola.  This fungus normally contributes to the decomposition of dead animals, but has for some reason been infecting live snakes since the early 2000’  SFD is primarily characterized by a severe rash on the snake’s skin, although it may also affect the snake’s eyes or even liver.  The infection often results in death and in some species the mortality rate appears to be 100%.

#116: Scorias spongiosa 1

Fungus Fact

#116: Scorias spongiosa

This bizarre fungus forms a fuzzy mat of tan to black tissue on the branches, trunks, and ground underneath American Beech trees. Scorias spongiosa belongs to a group of fungi called “sooty molds.”  Sooty molds digest the honeydew (essentially sugar-rich aphid poop) dropped by aphids in the process of feeding on plants.  There are many kinds of sooty molds and if you’ve ever had an aphid (or other insect) infestation on trees in your garden, they you’ve probably seen sooty molds.  Normally, sooty molds form a thin, black film on leaves and branches under places where the aphids are feeding.  spongiosa differs from normal sooty molds because it forms films that can be as thick as a football!

#115: Neotyphodium coenophialum, Tall Fescue Endophyte 1

Fungus Fact

#115: Neotyphodium coenophialum, Tall Fescue Endophyte

This fungus spends its entire life inside Tall Fescue, a common livestock feed grass. While it is beneficial to the plant, it makes animals that feed on the grass sick.  In the United States, the fungus costs the beef industry from $600 million to $1 billion or more every year.

#086: Morchella esculentoides, a Yellow Morel 5

Fungus Fact

#086: Morchella esculentoides, a Yellow Morel

It’s morel season! Keep an eye out for these beautiful, tasty mushrooms now through late may!  There are a few species of Yellow Morels in North America, but Morchella esculentoides is the most common one.

#083: Hypomyces lactifluorum: The Lobster Mushroom 0

Fungus Fact

#083: Hypomyces lactifluorum: The Lobster Mushroom

Lobster Mushrooms are the strangest mushrooms you will ever eat. Yes, these mushrooms are even stranger than edible stinkhorns, which are foul-smelling and sometimes gelatinous.  What makes Lobster Mushrooms truly weird is that they are actually a fungus (Hypomyces lactifluorum) growing on top of a mushroom.  It is this parasitic relationship that gives Lobster Mushrooms their shape and makes them edible.

#082: Biscogniauxia atropunctata 0

Fungus Fact

#082: Biscogniauxia atropunctata

This fungus is one of a number of ascomycetes that form hard, flat fruiting surfaces on dead or dying hardwood trees. Most fungi with this fruiting habit are black, making the tree appear as though it were burned in discrete spots.  However, at a certain stage in its fruiting body development, Biscogniauxia atropunctata is light gray or white and covered in small, black dots.

#066: Ophiocordyceps sinensis 1

Fungus Fact

#066: Ophiocordyceps sinensis

This fungus parasitizes caterpillars in the Himalayas and produces small, spike-like mushrooms. These mushrooms are highly prized for their supposed medicinal properties and have brought a lot of new wealth and new problems to the people living in the Himalayas.  Ophiocordyceps sinensis fruiting bodies are known as “Yartsa Gunbu” in Tibetan and “D­ōng Chóng Xià Cǎo” in Chinese, both of which translate to “winter worm, summer grass.”  The English names for the fungus are much less colorful: “Caterpillar Fungus” or (more recently) “Himalayan Viagra.”  sinensis (Fungi, Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes, Hypocreales, Ophiocordycipitaceae) is native to the meadows of the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau and can be found from 3,000m to 5,000m above sea level.  The parasitic fungus infects a variety of species of ghost moth larvae that live underground.  It initially infects the caterpillars in the late summer.  By winter, the fungus is ready to kill its host.  At that time, it...

#061: Ergot of Rye, Claviceps purpurea 2

Fungus Fact

#061: Ergot of Rye, Claviceps purpurea

Imagine for a moment that it is the late 17th century and you live in rural America.  Your day starts off like any other day: you wake up, have breakfast, and begin working on your farm.  However, before too long your daughter starts behaving oddly.  At first she just seems agitated, but her symptoms quickly escalate.  She convulses, hides under the table, yells unintelligibly, and complains of a prickly sensation in her arms and legs.  Terrified, you call for the town doctor.  The doctor has never seen a disease like this before and cannot find anything physically wrong with your daughter.  After a while, he comes up with the only possible cause: witchcraft.  Just then, one of your neighbors bursts in, looking for the doctor.  His daughter has been exhibiting the same symptoms!  You look at his frightened face and realize what you have to do: in order to protect...

#060: Urnula craterium, The Devil’s Urn 2

Fungus Fact

#060: Urnula craterium, The Devil’s Urn

The creepiest thing about this black cup fungus is its name. Unfortunately, there’s no good story to go along with the name.  If you’re a little disappointed about this, here is a story that I just made up: Some say that each mushroom holds a dead soul that has come back to haunt the world of the living.  Sometimes you can even see the soul rise out of the Devil’s Urn and disappear into the air.  Although this story is fictitious and tailored to fit the mood of the season, it does have some truth in it.  Ascomycetes, which include cup fungi like the Devil’s Urn, often forcibly discharge their spores in a small puff when the air around them is disturbed (by, for example, picking it up or blowing on it).  This helps the fungus get its spores into moving air, which can spread the spores across great distances. ...

#058: Cordyceps militaris: the Scarlet Caterpillar Club 1

Fungus Fact

#058: Cordyceps militaris: the Scarlet Caterpillar Club

Cordyceps militaris is a fascinating fungus that infects caterpillar and moth larvae. What’s the creepiest thing about this fungus?  It mummifies its insect victims.  I’ve been told that it also makes its subterranean victims crawl to the surface so that it can more effectively release its spores, but I can’t find anything online to back that up.  Instead, everyone seems to want me to buy militaris (more on that later).  The Scarlet Caterpillar Club infects the larvae and pupae of a variety of caterpillars and moths.  Before they emerge as adults, the host insects live either underground or in decaying wood, so C. militaris mushrooms often look like a generic club fungus or earth tongue look-alike.  If you dig beneath the surface, however, you will find the mummified remains of the host insect, which provide the nutrients that C. militaris needs to produce spores.  Like other members of the Cordyceps...