Amaurochaete comata G. Lister & Brândză, J. Bot., Lond.

Moreno, G., Castillo, A. & Thüs, H., 2018, Critical revision of type material of Stemonitales (Myxogastria) at the Natural History Museum London (BM), Phytotaxa 344 (2), pp. 149-159 : 154

Amaurochaete comata G. Lister & Brândză, J. Bot., Lond. 64: 225 (1926)

≡ Lachnobolus comatus (G. Lister & Brândză) Lado, Cuadernos de Trabajo de Flora Micológica Ibérica (Madrid) 16: 49 (2001)

Type:— ROMANIA, Neamt, on living bark, September 1925, Dr. M. Brândză, BM 4043 [ BM 001089979 = box, BM 001247193 = slide, BM 001247201 = SEM stub].

This species was described by G. Lister (1926) based on specimens sent by M. Brândză from the historic region of Moldavia (Neamt, Moldova Region, today part of Romania) on trunks of Abies pectinata where this species often fructifies. Martin & Alexopoulos (1969) described this species as from M. Brândză 95 deposited in IA (currently BPI 805742). These authors revise the measurements of the original plate in the publication by Lister (1926) and indicate that spores measures should be 13–14 (–14.5) μm instead of 11–12 μm in diameter. In specimens deposited in the box labeled as BM 4043 the average spore dimensions was found as 12.5 × 12 μm with a minimum of 11 μm, thereby confirming the lower limit as observed by Lister and the maximum of 13.7 μm, close to that observed by Martin & Alexopoulus (1969). This result highights the importance of a sufficient and defined sample size in order to avoid a too narrow or biased understanding of the variation in spore size even within a single sporocarp.