Tremella coffeicolor is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces brown, lobed to foliaceous, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead branches of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from Bermuda, where it was collected as part of the Challenger expedition.

Tremella coffeicolor
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Tremellomycetes
Order: Tremellales
Family: Tremellaceae
Genus: Tremella
Species:
T. coffeicolor
Binomial name
Tremella coffeicolor
(Berk.) P. Roberts (2004)
Synonyms
  • Hirneola coffeicolor Berk. (1876)
  • Auricularia coffeicolor (Berk.) Farl. (1905)
  • Tremella auricularia Möller (1895)

Taxonomy

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Tremella coffeicolor was first published, as Hirneola coffeicolor, in 1876 by British mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley based on a collection made in Bermuda.[1] In 2004, British mycologist Peter Roberts re-examined the type specimen and transferred the species to the genus Tremella. Roberts considered Tremella auricularia, described from Brazil in 1895, to be a later synonym.[2]

Description

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Fruit bodies are gelatinous, pale to mid-brown, several centimetres across, and lobed to foliaceous, the lobes sometimes ear-like. Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (ellipsoid, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, 18 to 26 by 12 to 17 μm. The basidiospores are ellipsoid to oblong, smooth, 10 to 12.5 by 8 to 9 μm.[3][2]

Similar species

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Fruit bodies of Phaeotremella frondosa and P. foliacea are similarly coloured, but are typically more frondose and, microscopically, have smaller basidia and basidiospores.

Habitat and distribution

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Tremella coffeicolor is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host is unknown. It was originally described from bark of Coffea.[1]

The species was originally collected in Bermuda[1] and has been recorded from the Azores,[2] Cuba,[2] Trinidad,[2] Jamaica,[4] Puerto Rico, and (as Tremella auricularia) from Brazil.[3][5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Berkeley MJ (1877). "Enumeration of fungi collected during the expedition of H.M.S. 'Challenger'". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 15: 48–53. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1876.tb00220.x.
  2. ^ a b c d e Roberts PJ, Spooner BM (2004). "Heterobasidiomycetes from the Azores". Kew Bulletin. 59: 95–101. doi:10.2307/4111079.
  3. ^ a b Bandoni RJ, Oberwinkler F (1983). "On some species of Tremella described by Alfred Möller". Mycologia. 75 (5): 854–863. doi:10.2307/3792776. JSTOR 3792776.
  4. ^ Roberts P (2006). "Caribbean Heterobasidiomycetes: 2. Jamaica". Mycotaxon. 96: 83–107.
  5. ^ Roberts P, de Meijer AAR (1997). "Macromycetes from the state of Paraná, Brazil. 6. Sirobasidiaceae & Tremellaceae". Mycotaxon. 64: 261–283.