VIRTUAL MYCOTA: NZ Fungi Identification: Cortinarius nivalis

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Cortinarius nivalis

Synonyms

Thaxterogaster nivalis

Biostatus

Present in region - Indigenous. Endemic

Images (click to enlarge)


Caption: Thaxterogaster nivale Hk. sp.n. (type): a. fruitingbodies, b. spores. c. basidia. d. cuticle.	Caption: Dried type specimen Owner: Herb PDD	Caption: Dried type specimen Owner: Herb PDD

Article: Horak, E. (1973). Fungi Agaricini Novazelandiae I-V. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia 43: 200 p.
Description: Gastrocarp 15-35 x 10-40 mm, subglobose to ovoid or irregularly tuberiform, peridium white, unchanging, glutinous, smooth when dry and occasionally covered with pentagon-like cracks, about 2 mm thick, not exposing gleba but easily peeling off. Gleba when young grey-lilac becoming ferruginous or chocolate brown, loculate with irregular chambers (up to 4 mm diam.), radially arranged, not gelatinised. Columella absent or penetrating only with few branches into the gleba. Stipe always present but not well developed, resembling a subgleba in the Lycoperdaceae, mostly button-like at the base of the gastrocarp, white, glutinous, smooth, lower portion of peridium connected with apex of the stipe, without rhizoids. Context whitish. Taste mild. Odor aromatic or intensely acidulous (especially at an over-mature stage). Chemical reactions on peridium: KOH - negative.
Spores 16-20(-22) x 13-15 µm, ovoid or ellipsoid-oblong, ± axially symmetric, with prominent apiculus, ferruginous, densely covered with coarse isolated warts, perisporium well developed, without suprahilar depression or germ pore. Basidia 40-48 x 14-20 µm, clavate, 4-spored. Cystidia none. Cuticle a cutis of intensely woven gelatinous hyphae (2-4 µm diam.), membrane thin-walled, hyaline, without pigment. Subcutis consisting of cylindrical hyphae, 8-14 µm diam., clamp connections present.
Habitat: On ground amongst mosses and litter under Nothofagus fusca, N. menziesii, N. cliffortioides and Leptospermum spp.: New Zealand.
Notes: This species is well characterised by its white colour, the absence of a columella and the large, coarsely warted spores. In New Zealand Th. nivale Hk. could be mistaken for Th. anisodorum Hk. or even Th. luteolum Hk. but the microscopic characters of these taxa are distinctly different. The south American species Th. brevisporum Singer however, shows a close relationship to Th. nivale Hk., but differs in shape and size of the spores, a different kind of ornamentation and other characters of minor importance.