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Open-access, online, rapid taxonomy
ISSN: 2653-4649 (Online)

Australian Journal of 

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Taxonomy

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Citizen scientists detect the fungus Onygena corvina (Onygenales, Ascomycota) in New South Wales, Australia

T.W. May, L.J. Vaughan, G.D.Holmes, E. Brand, F. Pegrem-Brand, L. Pegrem-Brand,  N. Siegel

Author details ⏷

T.W. May[1*], L.J. Vaughan[1], G.D.Holmes[1], E. Brand[2], F. Pegrem-Brand[2], L. Pegrem-Brand[2],  N. Siegel[3]

[1] Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra, Victoria, 3141, Australia
[2] Citizen scientist, Wentworth Falls, New South Wales, 2782, Australia
[3] Independent researcher, Royalston MA 01368-9206, USA

Abstract

A recent collection of a stipitate ascomycete with a powdery spore mass, collected from a bird carcass in New South Wales, is identified as Onygena corvina. This collection represents the first confirmed record of the species from Australia. Onygena corvina is otherwise rarely reported from the Southern Hemisphere, being known in the Oceanian region only from New Zealand and probably also occurring on the subantarctic Macquarie Island (part of Australia’s Economic Territory). Phylogenetic analysis of ITS sequences from the two species currently accepted in the genus, O. corvina and O. equina, does not recover well-supported clades for each species. Consequently, we rely on morphology to identify the NSW collection as O. corvina, as it is a good match for this species in spore size and shape, and the host is also consistent. The "neotype" previously designated for O. corvina is shown to be not Code-compliant and a lectotype is designated, utilising the illustration in the protologue. The NSW collection was made by citizen scientists during the Great Aussie FungiQuest 2023, organised by Fungimap. We discuss the contribution of citizen scientists to locating and documenting new and interesting fungi and the scope for further supporting such contributions.

Cite this paper as: May TW, Vaughan LJ, Holmes GD, Brand E, Pegrem-Brand F, Pegrem-Brand L & Siegel N (2024). Citizen scientists detect the fungus Onygena corvina (Onygenales, Ascomycota) in New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Taxonomy 72: 1–11. doi: https://doi.org/10.54102/ajt.i1ogn

This paper was published on: 19/9/2024

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Paper

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Corrigendum

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