Bovista dermoxantha is a small, white, nearly round puffball, recognized when young by a cottony-felty outer surface that becomes inconspicuously warted, eventually leaving fine, pallid, scales on an ochre to brown endoperidium.[1] Bovista plumbea is similar, but has a smoother surface when young, and lacks a basal mycelial cord. In age it is distinguished by a dull greyish endoperidium. Large specimens of Bovista dermoxantha may also be mistaken for Bovista pila. Both have a mycelial cord attachment to the substrate, but Bovista pila differs in releasing spores through tears or splits in the endoperidium rather than by an apical pore.[2]
The fruiting body of the sporocarp is 1.5-3.0 (4.0) cm broad, subglobose, and attached to the substrate by a white mycelial cord. The exoperidium, which is white, felty, and shrivels in age, leaving buff to light-brown, grows up to 1.0 mm thick.[3] There are furfuraceous scales or low warts on the endoperidium, which consists of a thin, membranous, ochre-brown to medium-brown layer, opening via a ragged apical pore.[4] The gleba is soft, white, and becomes yellowish-olive to olive-brown, and finally to medium-brown at maturity. The subgleba and sterile base are absent. It has an undistinctive odor and taste. Although they are small, they are too small to be considered for an ordinary meal.
The Bovista dermoxantha is solitary, scattered, and clustered on disturbed ground. For example, they can be found on pastures, playing fields, edges of woods, roads, and paths. At low elevations, they are widely distributed, and fruit during the summer in watered areas and throughout the mushroom season. Though they are common, they are inconspicuous and easily overlooked.
Spores are 3.5-4.5 µm in diameter, globose, thick-walled, and smooth to faintly warted. In addition, they have a central oil droplet and stub-like pedicel, and a sparsely branched thin capillitium. The pits are variable, consisting of absent to abundant.[5]
As with most Bovista, the spore release through the small apical pore.[6]
The relationship between temperature and fruit body emergence in summer in pathogens of basidiomycetes, Bovista dermoxantha, Lycoperdon curtisii and Conocybe lactea, on turf was examined using the method developed to predict the timing of emergence in pest insects.[8] The number of fruit bodies at the turf study site in Chiba, Japan, was recorded together with average temperature at the weather station from 1999 to 2003. The lower theoretical developmental thresholds (the developmental zeros) for mycelial growth in B. dermoxantha, L. curtisii and C. lactea were estimated to be 14.6.DEG.C., 17.0.DEG.C. and 8.8.DEG.C., respectively, based on the linear relationships observed in the temperature ranges 5-35.DEG.C. The cumulative effect of average daily temperatures that exceeded the developmental zeros required for each fungus (total effective temperature) was assessed. The probits of the percentage of total fruit bodies against the total that emerged over the five-year period of the study correlated with the total effective temperature to give a ratio of contribution exceeded near 0.6. Similar correlations were also found between probits obtained from daily recordings of fruit body numbers in the observation plots under 170 m2 and total effective temperature. The observations of development in B. dermoxantha and C. lactea revealed that the average diameter and fruiting period of the fruit bodies was 11.5 mm and 5.8 days, and the average height and fruiting period were 36.8 mm and 1.8 days, respectively. One of the characteristics for these fungi is that they are short-lived.[8]
Bovista dermoxantha is a small, white, nearly round puffball, recognized when young by a cottony-felty outer surface that becomes inconspicuously warted, eventually leaving fine, pallid, scales on an ochre to brown endoperidium. Bovista plumbea is similar, but has a smoother surface when young, and lacks a basal mycelial cord. In age it is distinguished by a dull greyish endoperidium. Large specimens of Bovista dermoxantha may also be mistaken for Bovista pila. Both have a mycelial cord attachment to the substrate, but Bovista pila differs in releasing spores through tears or splits in the endoperidium rather than by an apical pore.
Bovista dermoxantha es un hongo pequeño y blanco, en forma de más o menos redondo bejín, reconocible en su etapa inicial de crecimiento por su superficie exterior recubierta de una especie de fieltro algodonoso que da lugar posteriormente a una superficie ligeramente rugosa, deviniendo finalmente hacia un fino y pálido endoperidio de color ocre a marrón.[1]
El Bovista plumbea es un hongo similar, pero tiene una superficie más lisa en su fase inicial y carece de cordón basal hacia el micelio. Cuando madura se distingue por su endoperidio de tono tenue grisáceo.
Especímenes grandes de Bovista dermoxantha también pueden ser confundidos con el Bovista pila. Ambos tienen su punto de unión al micelio anexo al sustrato, pero el Bovista pila difiere en liberar esporas a través de grietas o rupturas producidas en su endoperidio más que por su poro germinativo.[2]
El cuerpo fructífero del esporocarpo tiene 1,5-3,0 (4,0) cm de ancho, globoso y sujeto al sustrato por un blanco cordón hacia el micelio. El exoperidio, que es blanco, afieltrado y se marchita con la edad adquiriendo un tono beige o marrón claro, crece hasta 1,0 mm de grueso.[3]
Muestra escamas furfuráceas o verrugas superficiales en el endoperido, el cual consta de una capa de color entre ocre-marrón y marrón-medio, delgada y membranosa, sobre la que se abrirá el poro germinativo.[4]
Su carne es blanda y blanca, deviniendo hacia un amarillento-oliva u oliva-marrón, para finalmente acabar en un marrón-medio en su madurez. Tiene un olor y gusto indistinguible. A pesar de ser comestible, su cuerpo es demasiado pequeño como para tener cualquier aplicación en la cocina ordinaria.
El Bovista dermoxantha es un hongo solitario que aparece disperso y formando racimos en terrenos perturbados. Por ejemplo, se le puede encontrar en pastos, campos de deportes, lindes de bosques, carreteras y caminos. En altitudes bajas, se encuentra difundidos ampliamente, y fructifica incluso durante el verano en zonas que reciben algún tipo de riego, además de durante la temporada propia de setas.
A pesar de ser comunes, son poco visibles y fácilmente pasados por alto.
Las esporas tienen 3,5-4,5 µm de diámetro, son globosas, de paredes gruesas, y de lisas a ligeramente verrugosas.[5] Como la mayoría de Bovista, la liberación de esporas se realiza a través de un pequeño poro germinativo.[6]
Bovista dermoxantha es un hongo pequeño y blanco, en forma de más o menos redondo bejín, reconocible en su etapa inicial de crecimiento por su superficie exterior recubierta de una especie de fieltro algodonoso que da lugar posteriormente a una superficie ligeramente rugosa, deviniendo finalmente hacia un fino y pálido endoperidio de color ocre a marrón.
El Bovista plumbea es un hongo similar, pero tiene una superficie más lisa en su fase inicial y carece de cordón basal hacia el micelio. Cuando madura se distingue por su endoperidio de tono tenue grisáceo.
Especímenes grandes de Bovista dermoxantha también pueden ser confundidos con el Bovista pila. Ambos tienen su punto de unión al micelio anexo al sustrato, pero el Bovista pila difiere en liberar esporas a través de grietas o rupturas producidas en su endoperidio más que por su poro germinativo.
