Amauroderma is a genus of polypore fungi in the family Ganodermataceae. The genus, widespread in tropical areas, contains about 70 species. Amauroderma fungi are wood-decay fungi that feed and fruit on decayed branches and trunks.
The fruit bodies of Amauroderma fungi comprise a cap and a stipe, and are typically woody, leathery, or corky in texture. The spores produced are usually spherical or nearly so, with a characteristic double wall structure that features U-shaped thickenings.
Taxonomy
Amauroderma was circumscribed by American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill in 1905. He set Amauroderma regulicolor (previously known as Fomes regulicolor Berk. ex Cooke), collected from Cuba, as the type species. The name Amauroderma had been used previously by Narcisse Patouillard, when he proposed that Ganoderma be divided into the sections Ganoderma and Amauroderma. Patouillard described the characteristics of section Amauroderma as follows: "Spores globose or subglobose, devoid of truncated base, warty, woodruff or smooth; crust hat or dull stipe pruinose, rarely shining." In 1920, Torrend promoted Ganoderma sect. Amauroderma to generic status, with Amauroderma auriscalpium as the type. This resulted in an illegitimate homonym, as Murrill's earlier usage of the name has priority.
The generic name means "dark/dusky-skinned" (from amauro, meaning "dark or dusky", and derma, meaning "skin").
Several studies using molecular phylogenetics have shown that Amauroderma, as currently circumscribed, is not a monophyletic taxon and will need to be revised.
Description
The fruit bodies of Amauroderma species are stipitate except in A. andina and may attain various shapes although centrally stipitate basidiocarps are most common. Several stipes may arise from the same base, frequently resulting in fused caps and compound fruit bodies. In section some fruit bodies are distinct with one or two distinct inner black bands or zones. The stipe is often duplex with an outer dense...
