Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina

Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina is a clavarioid fungus in the family Clavariaceae. It has been given the English names of orange spindle coral^[1] or orange worm coral.^[2] It forms cylindrical, orange fruit bodies that grow on the ground in woodland litter. It was originally described from the United States and is part of a species complex as yet unresolved.^[3]

Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina
Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina, Pennsylvania
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Clavariaceae
Genus:	Clavulinopsis
Species:	C. aurantiocinnabarina
Binomial name
Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina (Schwein.) Corner (1950)
Synonyms
Clavaria aurantiocinnabarina Schwein. (1832)

Taxonomy

The species was originally described from Pennsylvania in 1832 by American mycologist Lewis David de Schweinitz. In 1950, it was placed in the genus Clavulinopsis by English mycologist E.J.H. Corner.^[4] Initial molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, indicates that C. aurantiocinnabarina is part of a complex of related species.^[3]

Description

The fruit body of Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina is cylindrical, orange to orange-red, up to 80 x 6 mm, growing singly or in small clusters. Microscopically, the basidiospores are hyaline, smooth, globose to subglobose, 5.5 to 7 by 5 to 7 μm, with a small apiculus.^[5]

Similar species

Clavulinopsis fusiformis is similarly shaped, but fruit bodies are yellow rather than orange and typically appear in dense, fasciculate (closely bunched) clusters. Clavulinopsis laeticolor is also yellow and can be distinguished by its ellipsoid spores. Clavulinopsis sulcata is closely related, but was originally described from Asia and has orange-pink fruit bodies.

Distribution and habitat

The species was initially described from Pennsylvania, but its distribution is uncertain because of confusion with similar, closely related species several of which occur in eastern North America.^[3] The species complex is widespread within this area and C. aurantiocinnabarina sensu lato has also been reported from Central America and the Caribbean,^[6] Brazil,^[7] China,^[8] and Malaysia.^[9]

The species occurs singly or in small clusters on the ground and is presumed to be saprotrophic. It typically grows in woodland.

References

1. Bessette, Alan; Bessette, Arleen R.; Hopping, Michael W. (2018). A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 349. ISBN 9781469638539.
2. McKnight VB, McKnight KH. (1987). A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America. Peterson Field Guides. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-395-91090-0.
3. Birkebak JM. "Clavariaceae.org". Retrieved 2023-11-20.
4. Corner EJH. (1950). A monograph of Clavaria and allied genera. Annals of Botany Memoirs. Vol. 1. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 623–4.
5. Petersen RH (1968). "The genus Clavulinopsis in North America". Mycologia Memoir (2): 1–39.
6. Corner EJH (1970). Supplement to 'A monograph of Clavaria and allied genera'. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia. Vol. 33. Lehre, Germany: J. Cramer. p. 10.
7. Furtado AN, Daniels PP, Neves MA (2016). "New species and new records of Clavariaceae (Agaricales) from Brazil". Phytotaxa. 253: 1. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.253.1.1.
8. Yan J, Wen J, Li G, Wu S, Zhang P (2023). "Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Clavulinopsis (Clavariaceae, Agaricales): Description of six new species and one newly recorded species from China". Journal of Fungi. 9 (6): 656. doi:10.3390/jof9060656. PMC 10305072.
9. Lee SS, Alias SA, Jones EB, Zainuddin N, Chan HT (2012). Checklist of Fungi of Malaysia: Research Pamphlet 132. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia.