Irpex lacteus

Irpex lacteus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Polyporales
Family: Irpicaceae
Genus: Irpex
Species:
I. lacteus
Binomial name
Irpex lacteus
(Fr.) Fr. (1828)

Irpex lacteus is a common crust fungus distributed throughout temperate areas of the world. It is the type of the genus Irpex. Irpex lacteus is considered a polypore, but depending on growth conditions it can also produce a hydnoid hymenophore. Due to this variability and abundance of the species it has been described as a new species to science numerous times and subsequently has an extensive synonymy. The complete genome sequence of Irpex lacteus was reported in 2017.

Ecology

Infested, of possible Irpex lacteus growth on a deceased section of a cherry tree.

Irpex lacteus is a white-rot fungus that inhabits mainly angiosperm branches and trunks. It is one of the most common wood-rotting fungi for instance in urban North America. It is inedible. This fungus has been identified as a cause of pulmonary infections in immuno-compromised humans.

It is occasionally eaten by the widespread American pleasing fungus beetle Ischyrus quadripunctatus. Adults of the related beetle Tritoma biguttata biguttata are more rarely recorded from this mushroom, and it does not seem to be a regular food source for them.

Taxonomy

The fungus was first described in 1818 by Elias Magnus Fries, who called it Sistotrema lacteum. Fries later made it the type species of the genus Irpex in 1828.

Synonyms

Irpex lacteus
Mycological characteristics
Hymenium attachment is not applicable
Lacks a stipe
Ecology is saprotrophic
Edibility is inedible

References

  1. ↑ Yao, Mengwei; Li, Wenman; Duan, Zihong; Zhang, Yinliang; Jia, Rong (2017). "Genome sequence of the white-rot fungus Irpex lacteus F17, a type strain of lignin degrader fungus". Standards in Genomic Sciences. 12 (8): 400–3. doi:10.1186/s40793-017-0267-x. PMC 5596461. PMID 5596461.
  2. ↑ Gilbertson RL, Ryvarden L (1986) North American polypores 1, Abortiporus to Lindtneria. Oslo, Fungiflora.
  3. ↑ Phillips, Roger (2010). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 324. ISBN 978-1-55407-651-2.
  4. ↑ Multiple (2005). "The Polypore Mushroom Irpex lacteus, a New Causative Agent of Fungal Infections". Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 43 (4). American Society for Microbiology: 2009–2011. doi:10.1128/JCM.43.4.2009-2011.2005. PMC 1081321. PMID 15815046.
  5. ↑ Goodrich, Michael A. and Springer, Charles A. (1999): The Pleasing Fungus Beetles (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) of Nebraska. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 25: 53-71.Fulltext
  6. ↑ Goodrich, Michael A. & Skelley, Paul E. (1994): Fungal host records for species of Tritoma (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) of America North of Mexico. Entomol. News 105: 289-294. PDF fulltext
  7. ↑ Fries, E.M. (1818). Observationes mycologicae (in Latin). Vol. 2. p. 266.
  8. ↑ Fries, E.M. (1828). Elenchus Fungorum (in Latin). Vol. 1. p. 145.