Sarcoscypha
Encyclopedia
Sarcoscypha is a genus
of ascomycete fungus in the family
Sarcoscyphaceae
. Species of Sarcoscypha are present in Europe
, North America
and tropical Asia
. They are characterised by a cup-shaped apothecium which is often brightly coloured. Some members of the family such as S. coccinea and the - according to new knowledge - more common S. austriaca in western Europe
and United States
have bright scarlet apothecia which have given them familiar names such as the scarlet cup fungus and scarlet elf cap.
The name comes from the Greek sarco meaning flesh and skyphos
meaning drinking bowl.
Anamorphic forms are given the genus name, Molliardiomyces.
, although some individuals may appear to be attached directly (i.e., sessile
) to the growing surface. Asci
are cylindrical in shape, thick-walled, and have an apical operculum—a cover or lid that is opened prior to spore
discharged.
are those that seem to lack a sexual stage in their life cycle
, and typically reproduce by the process of mitosis
in structures called conidia
. In some cases, the sexual stage—or teleomorph
stage—is later identified, and a teleomorph-anamorph relationship is established between the species. The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature permits the recognition of two (or more) names for one and the same organisms, one based on the teleomorph, the other(s) restricted to the anamorph. The anamorphic state of S. coccinea is Molliardiomyces eucoccinea, first described by Marin Molliard in 1904. In 1972, John W. Paden again described the anamorph, but like Molliard, failed to give a complete description of the species. In 1984, Paden created a new genus Molliardiomyces to contain the anamorphic forms of several Sarcoscypha species, with Molliardiomyces eucoccinea as the type species. This form produces colorless conidiophores (specialized stalks that bear conidia) that are usually irregularly branched, measuring 30–110 by 3.2–4.7 µm. The conidia are ellipsoidal to egg-shaped, smooth, translucent (hyaline
), and 4.8–16.0 by 2.3–5.8 µm; they tend to accumulate in "mucilaginous masses".
es. There is a strong association with damp places and north facing slopes. Typical locations include woods in damp stream valleys. Fruiting in most species tends to be in late winter or early spring with fruiting bodies produced on the dead wood within which the mycelium
grows, although in some cases the apothecium appears to arise from amongst moss or from the leaf-litter. Because of their brilliant colour, many species are very easy to see in damp woodlands before spring growth has started.
In areas with a continental climate
, fruiting bodies may be developed underneath snow and are only revealed at the thaw.
analysis combined comparison of sequences
from the internal transcribed spacer
in the non-functional RNA
in addition to fifteen traditional morphological
characters, such as spore features, fruit body shape, and degree of hair curliness. Based on this analysis, one major clade includes the species S. austriaca, S. macaronesica, S. knixoniana and S. humberiana, while another has S. korfiana, S. occidentalis, S. mesocyatha, S. dudleyi, S. emarginata, and S. hosoyae. S. jarvensis is sister to all these species.
The species S. striatispora, formerly included in this list, was transferred to the genus Nanoscypha
to support a monophyly for Sarcoscypha.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of ascomycete fungus in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Sarcoscyphaceae
Sarcoscyphaceae
The Sarcoscyphaceae are a family of cup fungi in the Pezizales order. There are 13 genera and 102 species in the family. Members of this family are cosmopolitan in distribution, being found in both tropical and temperate regions.-External links:...
. Species of Sarcoscypha are present in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and tropical Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. They are characterised by a cup-shaped apothecium which is often brightly coloured. Some members of the family such as S. coccinea and the - according to new knowledge - more common S. austriaca in western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
have bright scarlet apothecia which have given them familiar names such as the scarlet cup fungus and scarlet elf cap.
The name comes from the Greek sarco meaning flesh and skyphos
Skyphos
In classifying the pottery of Ancient Greece, a skyphos is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim , or they may be loop handles at the rim or that stand away from the lower part of the body...
meaning drinking bowl.
Anamorphic forms are given the genus name, Molliardiomyces.
Description
Species in Sarcoscypha have cup-shaped fruiting bodies (apothecia) that are typically colored bright red or yellow, although a colorless variety of S. coccinea is known. Apothecia usually have a stipeStipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
, although some individuals may appear to be attached directly (i.e., sessile
Sessility (botany)
In botany, sessility is a characteristic of plants whose flowers or leaves are borne directly from the stem or peduncle, and thus lack a petiole or pedicel...
) to the growing surface. Asci
Ascus
An ascus is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. On average, asci normally contain eight ascospores, produced by a meiotic cell division followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or species can number one , two, four, or multiples...
are cylindrical in shape, thick-walled, and have an apical operculum—a cover or lid that is opened prior to spore
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
discharged.
Anamorph form
Anamorphic or imperfect fungiFungi imperfecti
The Fungi imperfecti or imperfect fungi, also known as Deuteromycota, are fungi which do not fit into the commonly established taxonomic classifications of fungi that are based on biological species concepts or morphological characteristics of sexual structures because their sexual form of...
are those that seem to lack a sexual stage in their life cycle
Biological life cycle
A life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...
, and typically reproduce by the process of mitosis
Mitosis
Mitosis is the process by which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus into two identical sets, in two separate nuclei. It is generally followed immediately by cytokinesis, which divides the nuclei, cytoplasm, organelles and cell membrane into two cells containing roughly...
in structures called conidia
Conidium
Conidia, sometimes termed conidiospores, are asexual, non-motile spores of a fungus and are named after the greek word for dust, konia. They are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis...
. In some cases, the sexual stage—or teleomorph
Teleomorph, anamorph and holomorph
The terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.*Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage , typically a fruiting body....
stage—is later identified, and a teleomorph-anamorph relationship is established between the species. The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature permits the recognition of two (or more) names for one and the same organisms, one based on the teleomorph, the other(s) restricted to the anamorph. The anamorphic state of S. coccinea is Molliardiomyces eucoccinea, first described by Marin Molliard in 1904. In 1972, John W. Paden again described the anamorph, but like Molliard, failed to give a complete description of the species. In 1984, Paden created a new genus Molliardiomyces to contain the anamorphic forms of several Sarcoscypha species, with Molliardiomyces eucoccinea as the type species. This form produces colorless conidiophores (specialized stalks that bear conidia) that are usually irregularly branched, measuring 30–110 by 3.2–4.7 µm. The conidia are ellipsoidal to egg-shaped, smooth, translucent (hyaline
Hyaline
The term hyaline denotes a substance with a glass-like appearance.-Histopathology:In histopathological medical usage, a hyaline substance appears glassy and pink after being stained with haematoxylin and eosin — usually it is an acellular, proteinaceous material...
), and 4.8–16.0 by 2.3–5.8 µm; they tend to accumulate in "mucilaginous masses".
Habitat
Members of the Sarcoscyphaceae grow as saprotrophs on dead wood, and especially in the case of Sarcoscypha, on mostly damp branches or twigs of hard-wood species often in association with damp loving mossMoss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
es. There is a strong association with damp places and north facing slopes. Typical locations include woods in damp stream valleys. Fruiting in most species tends to be in late winter or early spring with fruiting bodies produced on the dead wood within which the mycelium
Mycelium
thumb|right|Fungal myceliaMycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. The mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro, especially within the fairy ring fungi. Fungal colonies composed of mycelia are found in soil and on or within many other...
grows, although in some cases the apothecium appears to arise from amongst moss or from the leaf-litter. Because of their brilliant colour, many species are very easy to see in damp woodlands before spring growth has started.
In areas with a continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
, fruiting bodies may be developed underneath snow and are only revealed at the thaw.
Phylogeny
The phylogenetic relationships in the genus Sarcoscypha were analyzed by Francis Harrington in the late 1990s. The cladisticCladistics
Cladistics is a method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants . For example, birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor form a clade...
analysis combined comparison of sequences
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
from the internal transcribed spacer
Internal transcribed spacer
ITS refers to a piece of non-functional RNA situated between structural ribosomal RNAs on a common precursor transcript. Read from 5' to 3', this polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript contains the 5' external transcribed sequence , 18S rRNA, ITS1, 5.8S rRNA, ITS2, 28S rRNA and finally the 3'ETS...
in the non-functional RNA
RNA
Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....
in addition to fifteen traditional morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
characters, such as spore features, fruit body shape, and degree of hair curliness. Based on this analysis, one major clade includes the species S. austriaca, S. macaronesica, S. knixoniana and S. humberiana, while another has S. korfiana, S. occidentalis, S. mesocyatha, S. dudleyi, S. emarginata, and S. hosoyae. S. jarvensis is sister to all these species.
Species
According to the 10th edition of the Dictionary of the Fungi (2008), there are about 28 species in the genus. An incomplete list follows:The species S. striatispora, formerly included in this list, was transferred to the genus Nanoscypha
Nanoscypha
Nanoscypha is a genus of fungi in the Sarcoscyphaceae family. There are about 10 species in the genus, which have a widespread distribution.-External links:* at Index Fungorum...
to support a monophyly for Sarcoscypha.
External links
- European and North American species of Sarcoscypha by H. O. Baral
- Mushroom Expert
- Ascospores Comparison of three similar Sarcoscypha species