Geography varies.
Unless a target below specifies a geographic region, the legacy AMS project accepted useful collections from anywhere in the United States.
ARTHROPOD-PARASITIC FUNGI
Spider pathogens
Research targets for Nigel Hewel-Jones, PhD and João Araújo, PhD
Purpureocillium atypicola
This fungus infects spiders and can appear in two strikingly different situations.
Burrowing spiders
A lavender stroma may emerge from the soil. Carefully excavate beneath it and you may find a white fungal mass surrounding the spider.
Keep the host intact.
Do not cut the white mass apart simply to expose the spider.
Aerial spiders
Infected spiders in webs can become covered in lavender-colored fungal growth. The old AFDP page specifically noted that these aerial-spider collections were comparatively scarce and wanted.
Compare these with spider-infecting Gibellula. AMS was also interested in receiving Gibellula material.
CLUBS, CORALS & OVERLOOKED FUNGI
Small things worth noticing
Research targets for Joshua Birkebak, PhD
Clavaria fragilis
White fruiting bodies emerging from soil, often in groups. They are cylindrical, usually unbranched, and notably fragile.
Their delicacy helps distinguish them from tougher, more extensively branching white coral fungi.
Clavaria zollingeri
A conspicuous bright-purple club/coral fungus. The legacy project emphasized that few eastern fungi look quite like it.
If you encounter an unusual purple coral-shaped mushroom, document and collect it even if you are uncertain of the species.
Clavulinopsis species
Including, but not limited to, C. aurantiocinnabarina, C. fusiformis, and similar fungi.
Look for orange or yellow spindles growing from soil. They are generally fragile and usually not strongly branched.
Ramariopsis & coral-form Trechispora
Both can occur as small white coral fungi. The old collection protocol specifically asks collectors to smell these specimens and document the odor.
AMS wanted both groups, but not Sebacina schweinitzii for this project. That fungus is tougher, with broader, flatter-looking branches.
Clavicorona species
Very small white cone-shaped fungi growing from conifer duff, particularly yew duff.
The legacy AFDP page noted that these had not yet been documented in Alabama and could be easily overlooked.
Mucronella species
Tiny, fragile white-to-yellow spines growing directly from wood, without a dense white crust beneath them.
Alisha documented only two Alabama collections at the time the legacy page was written. Both occurred on wet, barkless decaying wood: one on pine and one on wood that could not be determined in a mixed forest.
Hirticlavula species
Extremely small fungi—approximately a millimeter tall—with a small head on a very hairy stipe, growing from dead hardwood.
The old AMS page described the genus as known from only a handful of widely separated geographic records and likely to be overlooked.
Ceratellopsis species
Tiny, pointed, pale fungi growing from decaying wood or plant material.
Rarely documented and particularly easy to overlook.
BOLETES
Unusual Tylopilus
Research target for Todd Osmundson, PhD
Tylopilus boletes commonly have brownish caps and pores that begin white and become pinkish with maturity. Many species are bitter on a trained collector's chew-and-spit documentation test, and species-level identification can be difficult.
We are not looking for every ordinary
Tylopilus.
The targets are specimens that have stumped bolete identifiers or have been called unusual or particularly interesting by knowledgeable identifiers on iNaturalist or mushroom-ID groups.
One legacy example shown here was debated by identifiers; its sequence reportedly matched a Costa Rican soil sample at 100%, while the next closest match was only 88%.
CORAL FUNGI
Unusually dark or stout Artomyces
Research target for Ed Lickey, PhD
This search arose from an effort to find additional material resembling Artomyces carolinensis, described from western North Carolina.
The legacy description characterizes the target as somewhat darker and stouter than A. pyxidatus, while otherwise being very similar. Both occur on hardwood.
The Alabama specimen pictured was considered interesting but had not been confirmed as A. carolinensis.
Also of interest:
Artomyces found growing on conifer wood on the East Coast.
GULF SOUTH & UNDERSAMPLED GROUPS
Chanterelles, corals & crusts
Research targets for Rachel Swenie, PhD
Small black Craterellus
The targets are small black species that are not C. fallax or C. foetidus.
The legacy page notes that several small black Craterellus remain undescribed. Its examples included a probable C. calyculus and an unidentified collection.
Gulf South Clavulina
The legacy project noted approximately nine described Clavulina species occurring in the Gulf South and welcomed collections across the group.
The practical collecting rule was simple: unusual coral-shaped mushrooms in this region are worth documenting.
Tomentella & Odontia
If a crust fungus is identified on iNaturalist or by an experienced identifier as belonging to either of these genera, contact AMS.
The old project notes that microscopy is needed for confirmation and describes both as having irregular/angular, spiny spores.
MYCOPARASITES
Hypomyces on Amanita and Russulaceae
Research targets for Kadri Põldmaa, PhD and Tatiana Rubiano Goubert, MA
Requested species
Hypomyces hyalinus, H. banningiae, H. macrosporus, and H. luteovirens.
The project would also accept some H. lactifluorum.
For H. hyalinus:
Collecting nearby, apparently unaffected Amanita material can also be useful.
STALKED PUFFBALLS
East Coast Tulostoma
Research target for Amy Honan, PhD
These distinctive fungi resemble a puffball on a stalk and are difficult to mistake for an ordinary cap-and-stem mushroom.
The specific research need documented by AMS was for East Coast collections. The legacy project noted that eastern North American Tulostoma remained in need of further study.