Tremella vesiculosa is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces light brown, lobed, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead branches of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from New Zealand.

Tremella vesiculosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Tremellomycetes
Order: Tremellales
Family: Tremellaceae
Genus: Tremella
Species:
T. vesiculosa
Binomial name
Tremella vesiculosa
McNabb (1990)

Taxonomy

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Tremella vesiculosa was first published in 1990 by Robert Bandoni and Peter Buchanan, based on collections and notes made by the late New Zealand mycologist R.F.R. McNabb.[1]

Description

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Fruit bodies are firm, gelatinous, brick-red to reddish brown, up to 5 cm (2 in) across, and lobed, the lobes thick and inflated (vesiculose). Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (subglobose to broadly clavate, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, 11.5 to 20 by 8 to 12.5 μm. The basidiospores are ellipsoid, smooth, 8 to 9 by 5.5 to 7 μm.[1]

Similar species

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Phaeotremella species are both brown and gelatinous, but have lobes that are comparatively thin, uninflated, and frondose. Tremella laurisilvae, described from the Canary Islands, is similar but geographically distant.[2]

Habitat and distribution

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Tremella vesiculosa is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host species is unknown, though the original collections were associated with xylariaceous fungi. It is found on dead, attached or fallen branches of broad-leaved trees.[1]

The species was described from New Zealand and has been reported from Australia.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Bandoni RJ, Buchanan PK (1990). "Two new species of Tremella from New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 28 (4): 451–454. doi:10.1080/0028825X.1990.10412328.
  2. ^ Kout J, Quijada L, Beltrán-Tejera E (2015). "A new species of Tremella from Macaronesia". Phytotaxa. 226 (1). doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.226.1.7.