Bolete Eater

Description

Hypomyces is a genus of parasitic fungi that grows on other fungi. Hypomyces chrysospermus grows exclusively on bolete mushrooms. It is called Bolete Eater or Bolete Mold in North America, Bolete Mould in the UK. It is cosmopolitan, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. It occurs throughout most of the United States and southern Canada, but it is absent from the Great Plains and the Great Basin.

Bolete Eater is found in summer and fall wherever its hosts are found, including in forests, woodlands, and urban areas. It has three distinct, easily identified life stages, each with a unique appearance.

When it first appears, the initial infection is a thin, white, cottony or tissue-like mycelial mat that looks like mold. It attacks the pores first because they are most susceptible, being thin and porous. It rapidly spreads to the stalk and cap, eventually engulfing the entire mushroom.

In the intermediate stage, it produces massive amounts of round, spiny, golden yellow or bright yellow spores (aleuriospores), resulting in a powdery crust that completely covers the mycelial mat.

The final, or sexual, stage results in a stroma that is typically reddish brown and crust-like. The stroma is the dense tissue where the flask-shaped, spore-producing sacs (perithecia) are embedded, giving the surface a visibly pimpled or rough texture. This phase is rarely seen because the host mushroom is usually completely rotten and mushy by this point.

It is not edible and it may be poisonous.

The spores are white in stage 1, yellow in stage 2, and colorless in stage 3.

Similar Species

Habitat and Hosts

Forests, woodlands, and urban areas.

Boletes

Ecology

Season

Summer and fall