Kingdom Fungi Class Agaricomycetes Rank Genus | Division Basidiomycota Family Agaricaceae Order Agaricales | |
 | ||
Similar Disciseda, Battarrea, Mycenastrum, Montagnea, Chamaemyces | ||
Arachnion bloodweb
Arachnion purespawn
Taxonomy
The genus was circumscribed by Lewis David von Schweinitz in 1822 with Arachnion album as the type, and only species. The genus name is Greek for "cobweb".
William Chambers Coker and John Nathaniel Couch circumscribed the family Arachniaceae in 1928 to contain Arachnion. The genus was later placed in the now-defunct family Lycoperdaceae. Modern molecular analysis has shown that Arachnion, as well as other puffball genera, are part of the family Agaricaceae.
Description
Arachnion species have a characteristic gleba, resembling a mass of grainy, sand-like particles. At a microscopic scale, the granules are peridioles, or tiny sacs made of hyphae that contain spores. Inside each sac is a minuscule chamber that contains inward-facing basidia (spore-bearing cells), an arrangement similar to that seen in Lycoperdon. The fruitbodies have a smooth, thin, and fragile peridium that readily disintegrates into small pieces in maturity to expose the granular contents.
Distribution
The genus is widely distributed, with species found in Australia, North and South America, South Africa, and Europe, and Japan.
Species
As of January 2016, Index Fungorum accepts 11 species in Arachnion: