Limnoperdon

rdf:langString Limnoperdon

rdf:langString Limnoperdon

rdf:langString G.A.Escobar

rdf:langString right

rdf:langString G.A.Escobar

rdf:langString Cladogram indicating phylogeny of L. incarnatum and some related species in the Pluteoid clade, based on ribosomal DNA sequences; after Matheny et al., 2006:

rdf:langString "Fructifications almost spherical, minute; peridium complex, with dendrophyses, indehiscent; gleba uniloculate, without invaginations; hymenium smooth; spores smooth."

rdf:langString Escobar, 1976

rdf:langString Limnoperdaceae

rdf:langString Family description:

rdf:langString Limnoperdon incarnatum

rdf:langString G.A.Escobar

rdf:langString Limnoperdon is a fungal genus in the monotypic family Limnoperdaceae. The genus is also monotypic, as it contains a single species, the aquatic fungus Limnoperdon incarnatum. The species, described as new to science in 1976, produces fruit bodies that lack specialized structures such as a stem, cap and gills common in mushrooms. Rather, the fruit bodies—described as aquatic or floating puffballs—are small balls (0.5–1 mm diameter) of loosely interwoven hyphae. The balls float on the surface of the water above submerged twigs. Experimental observations on the development of the fruit body, based on the growth on the fungus in pure culture, suggest that a thin strand of mycelium tethers the ball above water while it matures. Fruit bodies start out as a tuft of hyphae, then become cup-shaped, and eventually enclose around a single chamber that contains reddish spores. Initially discovered in a marsh in the state of Washington, the fungus has since been collected in Japan, South Africa, and Canada.