Destuntzia, a New Genus in the Hymenogastraceae (Basidiomycotina)

A new genus in the Hymenogastraceae, Destuntzia, is created to accommodate two species formerly placed in Hymenogaster, H. ruber and H. subborealis, and three previously undescribed species, D. fusca, D. saylorii, and D. solstitialis. Destuntzia is characterized by the locules lacking an organized hymenium and being filled with a gel containing pigmented, verrucose to rugulose spores. From its conception, Hymenogaster has included all hypogeous Basidiomy? cetes that have non-gelatinous trama, brown spores possessing smooth to ver? rucose or warty-rugulose ornamentation, and a columella that is absent to narrow and decurrent (Dodge and Zeller, 1934; Smith, 1973). Dring (1973) has further characterized Hymenogaster as having aulaeate sporocarp development and ba? sidia arranged in an organized hymenium. A rather unusual fungus collected by Trappe during the 1971 Stuntz Foray in Mendocino County, California, has led us to re-evaluate the inclusion of some species in Hymenogaster. The fungus collected by Trappe and a second specimen of the same fungus collected by Fogel in Marin County, California, has small, spherical, gel-filled locules, loosely arranged basidia, a thick peridium that stains blue when bruised, and spores that are light olive in KOH and ornamented with warts. Attempts to identify this fungus as a member ofthe Melanogastraceae sensu lato, characterized by gel-filled locules and loosely arranged basidia, were unsuccessful. Subsequent study showed that this distinctive fungus has been described as Hymenogaster ruber by Harkness (1899). The lack of detailed notes on fresh sporocarps of the type and its preservation in liquid probably account for the lack of mention of gel in the locules and the structure of the hymenium in earlier descriptions. The anomalous position ofthe species in Hymenogaster was recognized by Dodge and Zeller (1934). They noted some similarity in the gelatinous gleba and olivaceous spores of H. ruber with some species of Hysterangium (a genus of the Phallaceae producing hypogeous sporocarps, several species of which have light green spores enclosed in a wrinkled utricle), but retained it in Hymenogaster ". . . because of the verrucose spores and the lack of a columella." Smith (1966) later noted that the spores of H. ruber are much too deeply pigmented for placement in Hyster? angium. Other fungi possessing some of the features exhibited by H. ruber, including H. subborealis Smith, have since come to our attention. The combination of gel in the locules, lack of an organized hymenium, and pigmented, verrucose to