VICTORIA. Powelltown, Learmonth and Kobiolke road junction, hypogeal in mixed eucalyptus forest, 16 July 1974, G. Crichton & G. Beaton, Marysville, Steavenson Falls, hypogeal in roadside bank, 9 July 1975, K. & G. Beaton, Cumberland Res., 7 May 1982, K. & G. Beaton 8 (holotype K); Otway Range, Grey Riv. Res., hypogeal in wet eucalyptus forest, 18 July 1982, K. & G. Beaton, Lavers Hill, Kennedy's Creek road, 24July 1982, K. & G. Beaton-, 3 km from Eildon on Jamieson road, hypogeal under regrowth scrub, 17 Aug. 1982, A. C. Beauglehole, K. & G. Beaton, Apollo Bay end of Turtons Track, 21 Sept. 1982, K. & G. Beaton.

Gasterocarp 1-2 cm diam., subglobose or lobed, usually basally depressed around the point of attachment. Peridium carrot red (M.5YR/6.6/10.3) when fresh, drying to sienna brown (M.2.5YR/4.3/8.5), translucent, smooth and glabrous. Gleba pale orange (M.4.5YR/8.6/3.2), loculate, of very irregular, empty chambers, 0.5-2 mm diam., without any radial or concentric arrangement. Tramal plates up to 450 µm, thick, with a broad hymenophoral trama and well developed subhymenial layers. Columella and sterile base absent. Laticiferous elements present both in the peridiopellis and the tramal plates, producing a slight exudation from cut fresh specimens. Spores 8.5-10.5 x 8-10(10 ± 0.5 x 9.5 ± 0.5) µm (excl. orn.), Q,= 1-05; orthotropic, globose or nearly so, hyaline, thin-walled, with a coarse ornamentation of deep ridges, 1-2.5 µm high, forming a complete reticulum with a large mesh, amyloid and deeply staining; hilar appendix prominent, 1-2.5 µm long, with an apical tear. Basidia 35-55 x 7-10 µm, cylindrico-clavate, bearing 4, occasionally 2 sterigmata. Cystidia absent. Hymenophoral trama subregular, hyaline, with filamentous hyphae, 2-7 µm diam., and a few scattered laticiferous elements, 5-9 µm diam. Subhymenial layer well developed, 15-25 µm broad, pseudoparenchymatous. Peridiopellis a stratified epithelium, 100-200 µm thick, of agglutinated sphaerocytes, 10-20 µm diam.

Gasterocarpus 1-2 cm latus, subglobosus vel lobatus, ad basim depressus, sessilis. Peridium daucinum, translucidum, laeve, glabrum, Gleba pallide aurantiaca, in sicco brunnea, loculis irregulariter dispositis. Columella nulla. Sporae 8.5-10.5 x 8-10(10 ± 0.5 x 9.5 ± 0.5) µm, orthotropicae, globosae, hyalinae, tenuitunicatae, grosse reticulatae, amyloideae. Basidia 35-55 x 7-10 µm, cylindrico-clavata, 2- vel 4-sporigera. Cystidia nulla. Trama hymenophoralis subregularis, hyalina, elementis laticiferis instructa, sphaerocytis carens; subhymenium pseudoparenchymaticum. Peridiopellis sphaerocytis efformata.

This hypogeal species, which grows in small clusters, is easily recognized macroscopically by the bright carrot red colouration of the peridium, and microscopically by the reticulate ornament on the spores comprising deep ridges and a wide mesh. zelleromyces cinnabarinus Singer & Smith, from Louisiana, U.S.A., is similarly coloured but differs in having much larger spores with a smaller mesh to the reticulate ornamentation, and in the presence of cystidia.

Typus: Victoria, K. & G. Beaton 8 (holotype K).