Omphalina is a genus of small with white, nonamyloid, and decurrent gills.
Etymology
Omphalina is the
diminutive of
Omphalia which is a reference to the belly button or
navel-like appearance of the small dome-shaped caps with a central depression. It derives from the
Greek language word
omphalos.
Historical nomenclatural confusion
The generic name
Omphalina is an ancient one, linked to the even older mushroom name
Omphalia which cannot be used because it is an illegitimate later homonym. Historically, the former was generally applied to any white-spored, similarly sized and shaped
mushroom. As a result, many species that still are labeled
Omphalina, or were labeled
Omphalia are in fact not true Omphalinas. The now
conserved name species is
Omphalina pyxidata[1][2][3]. Prior to conservation of the type, typification was debated and unstable for several decades.
Phylogenetic redefinition
Molecular
phylogenetic studies using
DNA show this species and others on
with reddish brown to yellowish brown
that encrust the
walls are related, while many other former Omphalinas are distantly related and are classified in other orders, or families, and in other genera.
Biology
Omphalina in the modern sense is a small genus of
bryophyte colonizing mushrooms. They grow on mossy burned soils and in undisturbed mossy areas in
Arctic,
Antarctic,
alpine climate and
rural and
urban area sites. Many other bryophilous mushrooms occur in such habitats but they have other characteristics.
Reclassified and excluded former Omphalinas
Lichenized omphalinas, which are
, are now placed in
Lichenomphalia. An example is the species previously known as either
Omphalina ericetorum or
Omphalina umbellifera that is now called
Lichenomphalia umbellifera; etc.
Bryophilous grey to blackish former omphalinas are largely in the genus Arrhenia. Examples are: Omphalina epichysium, now Arrhenia epichysium; Omphalina sphagnicola now Arrhenia sphagnicola; etc.
Any former omphalina with amyloid spores goes into another genus. These genera include Mycena, Myxomphalia, Pseudoarmillariella, Xeromphalina, etc.
No true Omphalina has gelatinized or slimy tissues or brightly colored pigments. Neither do they have cystidia. Excluded species whose exclusion is supported by molecular analysis, include the genera: Blasiphalia, Chrysomphalina, Chromosera, Contumyces, Gerronema, Haasiella, Loreleia, Rickenella, etc.
Species
-
Omphalina arctica
-
Omphalina chionophila
-
Omphalina demissa
-
Omphalina favrei
-
Omphalina foetida
-
Omphalina fulvopallens
-
Omphalina grisea
-
Omphalina kuehneri
-
Omphalina mutila
-
Omphalina nothofaginea
-
Omphalina pseudomuralis
-
Omphalina pyxidata
-
Omphalina rivulicola
-
Omphalina subhepatica
-
Omphalina wallacei
-
Omphalina wellingtonensis
See also
-
List of Tricholomataceae genera
