Thecotheus

Thecotheus crustaceus, photographed by Gilbert Moyne.

Belongs within: Pezizales.

Thecotheus is a genus of fungi often found growing on animal dung.

Characters (from Yao & Spooner 2000): Apothecia sessile, globose to subglobose or cylindrical, rarely pulvinate to lenticular at first, becoming cupulate to discoid, white, becoming grey, yellow, orange to brownish; ectal excipulum of textura angularis and medullary excipulum of textura intricata and textura globulosa; asci operculate, cylindric, 4- to 32-spored (rarely 64-spored), wall amyloid, protruding from the hymenium at maturity; ascospores ellipsoid, rarely subglobose, eguttulate, hyaline to pale yellow, smooth or ornamented with granules or warts, having polar apiculi in some species, with a thick mucilaginous perisporic layer; paraphyses filiform, septate, hyaline or sometimes containing purple-brown granules.

<==Thecotheus
    |--T. africanus NU03
    |--T. biocellatus NU03
    |--T. cinereus NU03
    |--T. crustaceus [=Ascophanus crustaceus; incl. T. agranulosus] NU03
    |--T. flavidus NU03
    |--T. formosanus NU03
    |--T. harasisus NU03
    |--T. himalayensis NU03
    |--T. holmskjoldii NU03
    |--T. inaequilateralis NU03
    |--T. keithii NU03
    |--T. lindqvistii NU03
    |--T. pallens NU03
    |--T. phycophilus NU03
    |--T. rivicola NU03
    |--T. uncinatus NU03
    |--T. urinamans Nagao, Udagawa & Bougher in Nagao, Udagawa et al. 2003 NU03
    `--T. viridescens NU03

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[NU03] Nagao, H., S. Udagawa, N. L. Bougher, A. Suzuki & I. C. Tommerup. 2003. The genus Thecotheus (Pezizales) in Australia: T. urinamans sp. nov. from urea-treated jarrah (Eucalyptus marginatus) forest. Mycologia 95 (4): 688-693.

Yao, Y.-J., & B. M. Spooner. 2000. Notes on British species of Thecotheus (Ascobolaceae, Pezizales), with reference to other species of the genus. Kew Bulletin 55 (2): 451-457.