Otidea formicarum, Harmaja, 1976

Harmaja, Harri, 2009, A note on Otidea (Pezizales, Fungi), Phytotaxa 2, pp. 49-50 : 49-50

Otidea formicarum new to Norway

Soon after having collected an Otidea unknown to him in 1979, Dr Sigmund Sivertsen (Trondheim, Norway) donated part of that collection to the Helsinki herbarium (H), requesting me to identify the fungus. However, due to several relocations of our mycological collections, the specimen was temporarily displaced until autumn 2009. I have now been able to study the Norwegian collection and it represents a very typical specimen of O. formicarum Harmaja (1976: 31) : both macroscopical and microscopical characters (studied in Melzer’s reagent) match well, as well as the response of the dried apothecia to ultra-violet light ( Harmaja, 1976, 2009). The habitat where the specimen was collected is also typical of the species. This is the first collection known from Norway, and more importantly the first record of O. formicarum outside Finland.

Specimen examined: NORWAY: Sør-Trøndelag: Selbu, Tømmervollen , alt. 340 m.

On large ant hill. 19 September 1979, S. Sivertsen s.n. (H).