Sciency Thoughts: Michoacán State

Showing posts with label Michoacán State. Show all posts

Thursday, 26 January 2023

Chroogomphus conacytiensis & Chroogomphus flavovinaceus: Two new species of edible Mushroom from Mexico.

The genus Chroogomphus currently comprises eleven species of Pine-associated Mushrooms from across the Northern Hemisphere. These Mushrooms are often prized as a food-source, particularly in eastern Asia, and are considered to be pharmacologically important, having been shown to produce drugs with antioxidant potential, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, antidiabetic and antitumor properties. These Mushrooms are also eaten in Mexico, where all are referred to a single species, Chroogomphus jamaicensis, but this is unlikely to reflect the true diversity of the group here, as the genus is known to be represented by several different species in the United States.

In a paper published in the journal Phytokeys on 24 January 2023, Jesús Pérez-Moreno and Magdalena Martínez-Reyes, of the Colegio de Posgraduados at Campus Montecillo, César Ramiro Martínez-Gonzáles of the Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria of the Tecnológico Nacional de México, and Elisettte Ramírez-Carbajal, Anaitzi Carrera-Martínez. Javier Isaac de la Fuente, Joan Windhoek Olvera-Noriega, and Olivia Ayala-Vásquez, also of the Colegio de Posgraduados at Campus Montecillo describe two new species of edible Mushrooms in the genus Chroogomphus, from central and southwestern Mexico.

Pérez-Moreno et al. collected Mushrooms during the rainy seasons (June-September) of 2021 and 2022, in mixed Conifer and mixed Pine-Oak and Oak-Pine forests on the Transverse Neovolcanic Mexican Axis in the states of Mexico and Tlaxcala, as well as Hartweg's Pine forests in the Mixe Culture Region of Oaxaca State. The relationships between these and other members of the genus were then esablished following DNA extraction and analysis, in order to confirm that the samples do, in fact, represent new species.

The first new species is named Chroogomphus conacytiensis, where 'conacytiensis', in reference to the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (abbreviated to CONACYT in Spanish). This species produces slightly velvety brown, brownish yellow, brownish olive, greyish, or grey in colour, bruising to reddish brown or wine-coloured. These Mushrooms are 23–35 mm in diameter, and convex aging to dome-shaped. The underside of the Mushroom has orange-yellow, slightly serrated lamellae ('gills'), the stipe ('stem') is 23-70 mm long and 1-14 mm wide, and orange, yellow-orange, or pale orange in colout, becoming grayish to wine-coloured when cut.

Chroogomphus conacytiensis, General view of basidiomata. Pérez-Moreno et al. (2023).

Chroogomphus conacytiensis was found growing in mixed Pine-Oak forests at altitudes of between 2900 and 3000 m above sealevel, where it forms ectomycorrhizal associations with Smooth-barked Mexican Pine, Pinus pseudostrobus, and Hartweg's Pine, Pinus hartwegii. The species is known only from central and southwestern Mexico.

The second new species is named Chroogomphus flavovinaceus, where 'flavovinaceus' means 'yellow-wine-coloured', in reference to the colour change observed when the Mushrooms are touched. These Mushrooms are 25-45 mm in diameter and convex maturing to planar-convex. They are a citrus-yellow or pale orange in colour, darkening to a wine-colour when touched, The underside of the Mushroom has yellow lamellae. The stipe 18-31 mm long and 7-24 mm wide, and is also citrus-yellow or pale orange in colour, darkening to a wine-colour when touched,

Chroogomphus flavovinaceus. Context of basidiomata. Pérez-Moreno et al. (2023).

Chroogomphus flavovinaceusI was found growing in Oak-Pine forests in Mexico and Michoacán states, where it forms ectomycorrhizal associations with the Chihuahua Pine, Pinus leiophylla.

Tuesday, 1 October 2019

Tropical Storm Narda kills two after making landfall in Oaxaca.

Tropical Storm Narda made landfall in Oaxaca State, Mexico, on Saturday 28 September 2019, passing over a coastal regions of Guerrero, Michoácan, Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit, before passing back out to sea over the Gulf of California. The storm caused two fatalities in Ozxaca, a 26-year-old man in San Pedro Mixtepec, and a 17-year-old boy in San Jeronimo, both of whom were swept away by swollen rivers. A landslide in the town of Santa Catarina Juquila, also in Oaxaca, buried two shops, but nobody was hurt in that incident. In Jalisco State the Cuale River overflowed its banks in Puerto Vallarta, causing damage to 248 houses. Flooding was also reported in the city of Mazatlan in Sinaloa State.

Flooding caused by Tropical Storm Narda in the city of Mazatlan in Sinaloa State. The Mazatlan Post.

Tropical storms are caused by the warming effect of the Sun over tropical seas. As the air warms it expands, causing a drop in air pressure, and rises, causing air from outside the area to rush in to replace it. If this happens over a sufficiently wide area then the inrushing winds will be affected by centrifugal forces caused by the Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect). This means that winds will be deflected clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, eventually creating a large, rotating Tropical Storm. They have different names in different parts of the world, with those in the northwest Atlantic and eastern Pacific being referred to as hurricanes.

The path and strength of Tropical Storm Narda. Thick line indicates the past path of the storm (till 3.00 pm GMT on Tuesday 1 October 2019). Colour indicated the severity of the storm. Tropical Storm Risk.

Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms.

Monday, 10 April 2017

Aroramyces balanosporus & Aroramyces herrerae: Two new species of Truffle-like Fungi from Mexico.

Members of the genus Aroramyces are obligate ectomycorrhizal Fungi (Fungi that form mutualistic associations with the roots of Vascular Plants, providing the Plants with nutrients obtained from the soil in return for sugars that the Plants produce by photosynthesis) with Truffle-like fruiting bodies, known from tropical and subtropical regions of Central Africa and northern Queensland, Australia. To date a single species has been described from each continent, though a number of other species are known from Australia and still awaiting formal description.

In a paper published in the journal IMA Fungus on 11 October 2016, Gonzalo Guevara-Guerrero of the Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria, Michael Castellano of the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, and Victor Gómez-Reyes of the Facultad de Biología at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, describe two new species of Aroramyces from Jalisco and Michoacán States in Mexico, the first members of the genus described from the Americas.

The first new species described is named Aroramyces balanosporus, meaning ‘Acorn-shaped spores’, in reference to the shape of its spores. This species was found in Jalisco and Michoacán states at altitudes of about 1730 m above sea level, in association with the trees Carpinus (Hornbeam), Quercus (Oak), and Styrax (Snowbell). The Basidiomes (fruiting bodies) of this species are subglobose, white and often covered by patches of cottony hyphae, and reach up to 12 mm across. The spores are brownish and ellipsoid with embedded spines and can reach about 10.7 μm.

Aroramyces balanosporus. (A) Basidiomes, (B)–(D) Basidiospores with spines and equatorial lines. (E) Caespitose groups of erect, branched, setal hyphae. (F) Subcutis and mesocutis of pseudoparechymatous cells. Scale bars: (A) = 1 cm; (B)–(D) = 10 μm; (E)–(F) not to scale. Guevara-Guerrero et al. (2017).

The second new species described is named Aroramyces herrerae, in honour of the pioneering Mexican mycologist Teófilo Herrera Suárez. This species was found in the mountains of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic belt in Michoacán State, at altitudes of about 2160 m, in association with trees of the genus Quercus (Oak) and Pinus (Pine). The Basidiomes of this species are subglobose, white or brown and often mottled, and can reach 15 μm across. The spores are shaped like grains of rice, with wing-like appendages and can reach 12.5 μm.

Aroramyces herrerae. (G) Crosssection of basidiome. (H)–(I) Basidiospores with inflated utricule. (J) Inner peridium cells, occasionally with inflated hyphae. (K) Clamp connections on encrusted hyphae adherent on the outer peridium. (L) Tramal plate. Scale bars: (G) = 1 cm; (H)–(I) = 10 μm; (J)–(L) not to scale. Guevara-Guerrero et al. (2017).