Hygrocybe austropratensis (an agaric fungus) - endangered species listing

The Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list Hygrocybe austropratensis A.M. Young, an agaric fungus, as an ENDANGERED SPECIES in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Act. The listing of endangered species is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.

NSW Scientific Committee - final determination

The Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Hygrocybe austropratensis A.M. Young (Fungi, Basidiomycota, Agaricales, Hygrophoraceae) is a small, brightly-coloured gilled fungus. It is described by Young (1999): Pileus 14-30 mm, orange to light orange brown (near 4A8), convex or a little irregularly convex expanding to plano-convex and then somewhat irregular to repand, dry; at first coated with a white, furfuraceous layer which is progressively lost as the pileus matures; margins at first involute and may be slightly striate and often with whitish fragments on them similar to the pileal surface. Lamellae decurrent and sometimes apparently forking at the extreme margins on old pilei, no veins noted between lamellae on the pileus undersurface, pale orange buff (4A4) and margins concolorous and even. Stipe 20-45 x 4-7 mm, very pale creamy brown (near 4A3), solid, dry, cylindrical but often bulbous at the base, smooth or usually coated with the white furfuraceous layer which slowly disappears on aging. Spores 6-8.3(-9)x5-7.3m m, mean 7.5x6.3m m, Q: 1.1-1.4, mean Q: 1.2, subglobose to very broadly ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline. Basidia 53-69x6-8m m, mean 62x6.8m , Q: 6.6-10.2(-12.6), mean Q: 9.2, 2- or 4-spored, clamped. Cystidia none. Hymenophoral trama irregular composed of hyaline, strongly interwoven, branched, clamped, cylindrical hyphae 2.5-7m m diameter. Pileipellis a cutis of repent but extensively interwoven hyphae 3-6 m m diameter - in juvenile pilei the whitish layer is represented by an evanescent coating of delicate hyphae similar to the mature pileus' hyphae which disintegrate and disappear. Stipe a cutis of hyaline, thin walled, cylindrical, clamped hyphae 1.5-5m m diameter.

2. Hygrocybe austropratensis is known only from its type locality in Lane Cove Bushland Park in the Lane Cove Local Government Area in Sydney.

3. Surveys in potentially suitable habitats elsewhere in the Sydney Basin Bioregion have failed to find Hygrocybe austropratensis. The occurrence of Hygrocybe austropratensis in the Lane Cove Bushland Park appears to be very limited. The species does not produce basidiomes (above-ground fruiting structures) all year, but non-reproductive hyphal structures occur below ground.

4. Hygrocybe austropratensis is likely to be threatened by water-borne pollutants. Industrial pollutants occur particularly in the upper reaches of Gore Creek in Lane Cove Bushland Park, and domestic contaminants arise from residential properties on the perimeter of the Park. The species is also likely to be at risk from encroachment by exotic weeds, dumping of rubbish and garden refuse, excess pedestrian traffic in areas where hyphae or basidiomes occur, and inappropriate bush regeneration measures that disturb the forest canopy and native understorey plants.

5. Inview of the above, the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that Hygrocybe austropratensis is likely to become extinct in nature in New South Wales unless the circumstances and factors threatening its survival or evolutionary development cease to operate.

Proposed Gazettal date: 06/09/02
Exhibition period: 06/09/02 - 11/10/02

Reference

Young, A.M. (1999). The Hygrocybeae (fungi, Basidiomycota, Agaricales, Hygrophoraceae) of the Lane Cove Bushland Park, New South Wales. Austrobaileya 5(3) 535-564