Description:
"Parasola auricoma (Pat.) Redhead, Vilgalys & Hopple, in Redhead, Vilgalys, Moncalvo, Johnson & Hopple, Taxon 50(1): 235 (2001)
Coprinus auricomus Pat., Tabl. analyt. Fung. France (Paris): 200 (1886)
Coprinus hansenii J.E. Lange, Dansk bot. Ark. 2(3): 48 (1915)
Habitat: Singly or in small groups on soil, in woodland and may be hugely abundant on woodchip mulch in parks and gardens.
Notes: Common and widespread but under-recorded, and often
mistakenly identified as C. plicatilis. Possibly increasing with the
use of woodchip mulch on flowerbeds in parks and gardens. The presence
of thick walled brownish setae on the pileal disc is diagnostic."
Based on recent molecular studies published by Hopple & Vilgalys in 1999 (Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 13: 1-19), Redhead, Vilgalys, Moncalvo, Johnson & Hopple (2001. Taxon 50: 203-241) recently split the large and well-known agaric genus Coprinus Pers. taxonomically into four genera and two families. Coprinus comatus , the universally recognized lectotype for Coprinus , and two other species are now recognized as belonging with Lepiota and Agaricus
in the Agaricaceae. This transfer renders the younger name
(Coprinaceae) synonymous and superfluous. Over 95% of the remaining
former Coprinus species are now treated with Psathyrella in a separate family, for which the name Psathyrellaceae has been proposed. Except for C. comatus and close allies, all former Coprinus species have now been distributed into Coprinopsis, Coprinellus, and Parasola within the Psathyrellaceae.
Lorelei Norvell (2001)
