name | Amanita strophiolata |
name status | nomen acceptum |
author | Beeli |
english name | "Binga Death Cap" |
synonyms |
=Amanita strophiolata var. bingensis Beeli |
intro | The following description is based on the original descriptions of the two varieties of the present species, Beeli's revision of the species (1935), Gilbert's (1940 & 1941), and some investigation of original material by RET. |
cap | The cap of Amanita strophiolata is 60 mm wide, plano-convex, at times umbonate or depressed, dirty white and often yellowish in the center. The cap bears no volval remnants and has a margin that can be slightly or markedly striate. The flesh is very thin (perhaps membranous from the cap's edge half-way to the center) and white. |
gills | The gills of this species are free and white. |
stem | Its stem is 110 - 120 × 4 - 5 mm, cylindric, totally elongating, narrow, solid, smooth, white (pinkish in one of Mme. Goossens' watercolors), and bears a bulb at its base the width of which can be twice or more the width of the stipe. The ring is superior, membranous, white, and at least at first pulled upward in the form of a funnel. The volva is membranous and white and forms a free limb on the stipe's bulb. |
odor/taste | As precautionary measure, this species should be considered deadly POISONOUS. |
spores | Gilbert (1940) provides spores drawings in which spores measure 9.0 - 10.6 × 5.3 - 6.5 µm and are ellipsoid to elongate and amyloid. RET's measurement of spore from the type of A. strophiolata var. bingensis showed the spores are (6.5-) 6.8 - 9.3 (-10.3) × (4.0-) 4.6 - 6.0 (-6.5) µm and ellipsoid to elongate (infrequently broadly ellipsoid) and amyloid. Clamps are probably not present at bases of basidia. |
discussion |
The present species was originally described from the Democratic Republic of Congo in swampy forests. A variety of the species was also described by Beeli—Amanita strophiolata var. bingensis was described from a rather large collection made in association with Gilbertiodendron. Gilbert observed that Beeli's argument for separation of the two varieties was not supported by the material of the type collections. In fact, while Beeli separated the varieties based on spore size, cap color, and form of the stipe's ring, the spores of the two taxa are essentially identical as shown by Gilbert's (1940) spore drawings; the cap coloration is nearly identical in the watercolors painted of the two type collections; and the same watercolors show the same variation in form of the ring. Gilbert also reported that the spore walls were somewhat thickened, slightly pigmented, and marked with striations that spiraled around the spore's major axis. RET saw nothing like this when examining the spores of the type of A. strophiolata var. bingensis at 1250×. I have some concern about retaining this species in section Amidella where it was placed by Gilbert (1941). There doesn't appear to be a pulverulent inner-layer to the volva and Madame Goossens (in one watercolor) draws the volva as rather thin. An upward pointing ring is unknown in section Amidella. It seems possible that this species can be more properly placed in Amanita section Phalloideae.—R. E. Tulloss |
brief editors | RET |
name | Amanita strophiolata | ||||||||
author | Beeli. 1927. Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 59: 102, pl. 1 (fig. 4). | ||||||||
name status | nomen acceptum | ||||||||
english name | "Binga Death Cap" | ||||||||
synonyms |
≡Amidella strophiolata (Beeli) E.-J. Gilbert. 1940. Iconogr. Mycol. (Milan) 27, suppl. (1): 77, tab. 29 (fig. 3).
=Amanita strophiolata var. bingensis Beeli. 1931. Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 63(2): 103-104, fig. 3. The editors of this site owe a great debt to Dr. Cornelis Bas whose famous cigar box files of Amanita nomenclatural information gathered over three or more decades were made available to RET for computerization and make up the lion's share of the nomenclatural information presented on this site. | ||||||||
MycoBank nos. | 152401, 152851 | ||||||||
GenBank nos. |
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holotypes | A. strophiolata—BR (implicit). A. strophiolata var. bingensis—BR (implicit). | ||||||||
selected illustrations |
A. strophiolata—Beeli. 1935. Fl. Champ. Congo 1: pl. 1 (fig. 5). E.-J. Gilbert. 1940. Iconogr. Mycol. (Milan) 27, suppl.: tab. 29 (fig. 3). A. strophiolata var. bingensis—Beeli. 1935. Fl. Champ. Congo 1: pl. 1 (fig. 6). E.-J. Gilbert. 1940. Iconogr. Mycol. (Milan) 27, suppl.: tab. 29 (fig. 2). [As synonym of type variety.] E.-J. Gilbert. 1941. Iconogr. Mycol. (Milan) 27, suppl.: 313, tab. 40. [As synonym of type variety.] | ||||||||
intro |
The following text may make multiple use of each data field. The field may contain magenta text presenting data from a type study and/or revision of other original material cited in the protolog of the present taxon. Macroscopic descriptions in magenta are a combination of data from the protolog and additional observations made on the exiccata during revision of the cited original material. The same field may also contain black text, which is data from a revision of the present taxon (including non-type material and/or material not cited in the protolog). Paragraphs of black text will be labeled if further subdivision of this text is appropriate. Olive text indicates a specimen that has not been thoroughly examined (for example, for microscopic details) and marks other places in the text where data is missing or uncertain. The following material is derived from the protologs of both varieties of the present taxon, (Gilbert 1940 & 1941), and from original research of R. E. Tulloss. | ||||||||
pileus |
from protolog: 60 mm wide, sordid white, plano-convex, umbonate, glabrous; context thin, fleshy; margin lightly striate; universal veil ?absent. [Note: Mme. Goossens' illustration shows the disc as yellowish.] from protolog of var. bingensis: differing from type variety as follows: yellowish white, ochraceous over disc. [Note: See above. The disc is similarly colored in Goossens' paintings of both type collections.—ed.] | ||||||||
lamellae | from protolog: free, white; lamellulae not described. | ||||||||
stipe |
from protolog: 110 - 130 × 4 - 5 mm, dirty white, cylindric, glabrous; bulb typical of sect. Phalloideae and ca. 3× stipe width (per figure); context solid; partial veil superior at about one-quarter of stipe from apex, membranous, at first ascending (funnel-like), white; universal veil as limbate volva (per figure), white, membranous. from protolog of var. bingensis: differing from type variety as follows: partial veil membranous, pendent. [Note: Mme. Goossens' watercolors of both types show at least one specimen in each case with a membranous, infundibuliform partial veil.—ed.] | ||||||||
odor/taste |
from protolog: not described. from protolog of var. bingensis: Odor not recorded. Taste sharp. | ||||||||
macrochemical tests |
none described. | ||||||||
pileipellis | Beeli (1935): filamentous hyphae thin. | ||||||||
pileus context | not described. | ||||||||
lamella trama | not described. | ||||||||
subhymenium | not described. | ||||||||
basidia | not described. | ||||||||
universal veil | not described. | ||||||||
stipe context | not described. | ||||||||
partial veil | not described. | ||||||||
lamella edge tissue | not described. | ||||||||
basidiospores |
from protolog: 11 - 12 × 6 - 7 μm. [Note: No sporograph is generated from this data—ed.] from protolog of var. bingensis: 7 - 9 × 4 - 5.5 μm. [Note: No sporograph is generated from this data—ed.] Gilbert (1940), from type of Amanita strophiolata: [5/1/1] 9.0 - 10.6 × 5.5 - 6.3 μm, (L =9.7 μm; W = 5.8 μm; Q = 1.42 - 1.92; Q = 1.68), hyaline-ochraceous, smooth, ellipsoid to elongate, often adaxially flattened (per figure); apiculus sublateral and cylindric (per figure); contents not described; color in deposit unknown. [Note: The spore measurements are taken from the five drawings of (Gilbert 1940: tab. XXIX (fig. 3)) that are in apparent lateral view.—ed.] Gilbert (1940), from type of Amanita strophiolata var. bingensis: [4/1/1] 9.1 - 10.1 × 5.3 - 6.5 μm, (L = 9.6 μm; W = 5.9 μm; Q = 1.47 - 1.77; Q = 1.64), hyaline-ochraceous, smooth, ellipsoid to elongate, often adaxially flattened (per figure); apiculus sublateral and cylindric (per figure); contents not described; color in deposit unknown. [Note: The spore measurements are taken from the four drawings of (Gilbert 1940: tab. XXIX (fig. 2)) that are in apparent lateral view.—ed.] RET, from type of Amanita strophiolata var. bingensis: [59/1/1] (6.5-) 6.8 - 9.3 (-10.3) × (4.0-) 4.6 - 6.0 (-6.5) µm, (L = 7.9 µm; W = 5.3 µm; Q = (1.23-) 1.35 - 1.68 (-1.82); Q = 1.49), hyaline, colorless, smooth, thin-walled, amyloid, ellipsoid to elongate, occasionally broadly ellipsoid, adaxially flattened; apiculus sublateral, cylindric; contents granular to guttulate; color in deposit not recorded. | ||||||||
ecology |
from protolog: Solitary. Terrestrial in marshy forest. from protolog of var. bingensis: Solitary to abundant. Terrestrial in Gilbertiodendron (=Macrolobiium) dewevrii forest. | ||||||||
material examined |
from protolog: CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF: MAI-NDOMBE PROV.—Kiri, ca. Lake Mai-Ndombe from protolog of var. bingensis: CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF: PROV. EQUATEUR—Territoire Lisala - Binga [2°23'41" N/ 20°25'25" E, 361 m], | ||||||||
discussion |
As noted in the relevant data fields on this tab, none of the supposed distinctions allowing for the segregation of A. strophiolata var. bingensis hold up. Gilbert observed that Beeli's argument for separation of the two varieties was not supported by the material of the type collections. In fact, while Beeli separated the varieties based on spore size, pileus color, and form of the partial veil,
There is an additional curiosity: Gilbert reported that the spore walls were somewhat thickened, slightly pigmented, and marked with striations that spiraled around the spore's major axis. RET saw nothing like this when examining the spores of the type of A. strophiolata var. bingensis at 1250×. Of course, RET reviewed the spores about 70 years after Gilbert did. It is very likely that the larger spores could have been lost to mold in the intervening period—a possible explanation of the small size of the spores reported from the recenet revision. ?? more ?? | ||||||||
citations | —R. E. Tulloss | ||||||||
editors | RET | ||||||||
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name | Amanita strophiolata |
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name | Amanita strophiolata |
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[ Keys
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Each spore data set is intended to comprise a set of measurements from a single specimen made by a single observer; and explanations prepared for this site talk about specimen-observer pairs associated with each data set. Combining more data into a single data set is non-optimal because it obscures observer differences (which may be valuable for instructional purposes, for example) and may obscure instances in which a single collection inadvertently contains a mixture of taxa.