Ramariopsis
| Ramariopsis | |
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| Ramariopsis kunzei | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Clavariaceae |
| Genus: |
Ramariopsis (Donk) Corner (1950) |
| Type species | |
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Ramariopsis kunzei (Fr.) Corner (1950) |
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| Species | |
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Ramariopsis is a genus of coral fungi in the family Clavariaceae. The genus has a collectively widespread distribution and contains about 40 species. The name means 'having the appearance of Ramaria'.
Ramariopsis was originally defined as a subgenus of Clavaria by Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk in 1933. Several European species similar to the type, Clavaria kunzei, were included: Clavaria subtilis, Clavaria pyxidata, Clavaria angulispora, and Clavaria pulchella. In Donk's concept, defining characteristics of the group included small, branching, fruitbodies with a stipe, and an almost cartilaginous consistency to the flesh. Spores are small and hyaline (translucent), spherical to ellipsoid, and have a surface ornamentation ranging from echinulate (spiny) to verruculose (covered with small warts).E.J.H. Corner promoted the subgenus to generic status in his 1950 world monograph of clavarioid fungi.
Ron Petersen emended the genus in 1966 to include smooth-spored species, such as R. minutula. Three years later, he proposed the subgenus Laevispora to contain the smooth-spored species. In 1985, Pegler and Young used electron microscopy to examine the ultrastructural details of the spore surface, which revealed that the spores considered smooth with conventional light microscopy were ornamented at the ultrastructural level. They determined that the genus could be divided into three groups based on spore ornamentation. The Kunzei group have a discontinuous tunica (sheath) that form verrucae (warts); the Biformis group have a continuous tunica that form verrucae; and the Minutula group have a continuous tunica that form rugosities (wrinkles or creases).
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