Hymenogaster verrucosus
Hymenogaster verrucosus Buchholz
Hymenogasteraceae
Conservation status. Endangered [EN B2ab(i,ii,iv)].
Morphology and biology. Fruit-body irregular or globose, 1–1.5 cm in diameter, at first grey, then yellowish, dry and hard, with a well-developed sterile base. Peridium 80–130 µm thick. Gleba brown to dark brown, with irregular and arising from the base chambers. The chambers’ walls yellowish, consisting of even, chaotically interlaced hyphae some of which with bluish spots. Basidia two-sterigmate. Spores at first ellipsoid, 17–23 × 10–12.5 µm, stripped with spines, then irregular, wrinkled; yellow-brown. IV–VIII.
Habitats and populations. Hypogeous, in deciduous and mixed conifer-deciduous forests.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Thracian Lowland (Plovdiv).
General distribution. Europe.
Threats. Habitat loss/degradation caused by extraction (selective logging), and infrastructure development (human settlement, tourism/recreation, etc.); soil pollution.
Conservation measures taken. Included in the Red List of Fungi in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. Study of the population numbers and range; interpretation of species status through better understanding of the species biology and ecology; conservation of the habitat; study of the trends through monitoring.
References. Stoichev & Anastasov 1988; Denchev & Assyov 2010.
Authors: Cvetomir M. Denchev, Roumyana D. Petrova & Georgi T. Stoichev
