Afroboletus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Boletales
Family:
Boletaceae
Genus:
Afroboletus

Pegler & T.W.K.Young (1981)
Type species
Afroboletus pterosporus
(Singer) Pegler & T.W.K.Young (1981)
Species
  • A. azureotinctus
  • A. costatisporus
  • A. elegans
  • A. lepidellus
  • A. luteolus
  • A. multijugus
  • A. pterosporus

Afroboletus is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. The genus, circumscribed in 1981, contains seven species found in tropical Africa.[1]

Taxonomy

When defining the genus, Pegler and Young placed it in the family Strobilomycetaceae, and considered Afroboletus to be a "primitive" and possibly ancestral member of the group because of the form of its basidia and spores, the reticulation of the stem, tropical distribution, and non-mycorrhizal requirements of its species.[2]

Description

Fruit bodies of Afroboletus species have fleshy caps that are hemispherical or convex to applanate (horizontally flattened). As it ages, the cap surface becomes fuliginous (sooty) and black, developing pustules or scales. The cap margin is appendiculate, meaning that partial veil remnants hang along the cap margin. On the cap underside, the pore surface comprises tubes that are adnately attached to the stipe. The pore surface appears swollen, and is initially white before turning greyish or pale pinkish. The tubes are relatively long, measuring 1.5–2.5 cm (0.6–1.0 in), and there are typically 1–2 pores per millimeter. Stipes are slender, cylindrical, firm, and solid (i.e., not hollow). The colour of the stipe surface is similar to that of the cap, and also eventually turns blackish. The veil is persistent, fluffy, and sometimes leaves a ring on the stipe. The flesh is whitish, discoloring black on exposure.[2]

Spore prints are dark fuscous brown. Spores are short-ellipsoid with a deep yellowish-brown colour. Their surface features an intricate ornamentation of 8–12 large, winged, longitudinal costae interspersed with ridges, and a thickened rim at the base. Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are pear-shaped and bear four sterigmata. Cystidia are club-shaped to lance-shaped, thin-walled, and have a brown pigment contained within vacuoles. The hymenophoral tissue is bilaterally divergent, and contains gelatinized layers. The cap cuticle is arranged in a trichodermial palisade (erect, roughly parallel chains of closely packed cells) consisting of short cylindrical or sac-like, thick-walled cells with brown contents. The hyphae lack clamp connections.[2]

Species

There are seven species recognized in Afroboletus, all from tropical Africa:[1]

Image Name Authority  Year Distribution
Afroboletus azureotinctus Watling[3] 1993 Zambia
Afroboletus costatisporus (Beeli) Watling[3] 1993 Congo
Afroboletus elegans Heinem. & Rammeloo[4] 1995 Burundi
Afroboletus lepidellus (E.-J. Gilbert ex Heinem.) Watling[3] 1993 Cameroon
Afroboletus luteolus (Heinem.) Pegler & T.W.K.Young[2] 1981
Afroboletus multijugus Heinem. & Rammeloo[4] 1995 Burundi
Afroboletus pterosporus (Singer) Pegler & T.W.K.Young[2] 1981 Liberia

Uses

Both Afroboletus costatisporus and A. luteolus are used as food.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford, UK: CAB International. p. 11. ISBN 9780851998268.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Pegler DN, Young TWK (1981). "A natural arrangement of the Boletales, with reference to spore morphology". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 76 (1): 103–46 (see pp. 131–2). doi:10.1016/s0007-1536(81)80013-7.
  3. 1 2 3 Watling R, Turnull E (1993) [1992]. "Boletes from South & East Central Africa – I". Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 49 (3): 343–61. doi:10.1017/S0960428600000585.
  4. 1 2 Heinemann P, Rammeloo J (1995). "Taxa nova Boletineae africanae". Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique. 64 (1/2): 215–6. doi:10.2307/3668381. JSTOR 3668381.
  5. ↑ Pegler DN. (1982). "Agaricoid and Boletoid Fungi (Basidiomycota) from Malaŵi and Zambia". Kew Bulletin. 37 (2): 255–71. doi:10.2307/4109968. JSTOR 4109968.
  6. ↑ Buyck B, Nzigidahera B (1995). "Ethnomycological notes from western Burundi". Belgian Journal of Botany. 128 (2): 131–8. JSTOR 20794358.
  7. ↑ Malaisse F. (1995). How to Live and Survive in Zambezian Open Forest. Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux. p. 43. ISBN 9782870161067.
  8. ↑ Boa E. (2004). Wild Edible Fungi: A Global Overview of Their Use and Importance to People (Non-Wood Forest Products). Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN. p. 131. ISBN 9251051577.
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