Friday, 23 December 2022

eDNA results - Clavaroids

I have blogged a couple of times about the eDNA survey of our fields this year mentioning the results for Pinkgills and Fanvaults, but actually the most amazing and surprising results were for Clavaroids. Not only were there nine species that I had not recorded but some of those new species are not even featured in my extensive collection of fungi books. Take Ramariopsis avellano-inversa which I understand has only been recorded fruiting in New Zealand and Italy. Then there is R. crocea which Collins describes as 'very rarely recorded' and R. flavescens which is not in Collins or Laessoe and Petersen. What are we to make of all three being found in a small sample area in my fields and even more amazing to be found at 29, 23 and 16 respectively of the 30 Monmouthshire sites tested. My take is that it is not feasible that there has been regular fruiting of these species whcih has not been spotted. Maybe they fruit irregulalrly or not at all. Maybe they have been misidentified - R. crocea is somewhat similar to the fairly common C. corniculata for example. It's puzzling evidence and I shall be focusing on Clavaroids next year.

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