Thank you, Clive. You had an impact on the A. taiepa web page on the Amanita Studies site. Very, very interesting material.

Thanks again,

Rod

Hi Rod,
I made this collection specifically for you so you can keep them I will put them in the post sometime this week.

There’s a nice large wikipedia article on Kauri seen here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathis_australis

I know of two locations were Amanita taiepa can be found both locations have very similar habitats with mostly the same trees present. Agathis Australis, Phyllocladus trichomanoides and Leptospermum scoparium its the L. scoparium thats the mycorrhizal partner when I dug them up all were adjacent to these trees and attached directly to roots.

Nothofagus species are at the northern limit in Auckland with only hard beech (Nothofagus truncata) found this far north and then restricted to shelter locations (South facing gullies). Never the less the other location that I have found this fungus hard beech is also present.

Cheers Clive

Clive, these are really nice shots. I am just beginning to work on the part of section Amanita to which I think A. taiepa belongs. I am trying to build a world key for the genus one section at a time. It is very interesting for me to see that the two species that seem the most similar to A. taiepa occur in Nothofagus forest in Chile. It is quite remarkable how similar the three species are. Certainly, they must have had a similar common ancestor at least in the Cretaceous. This means that mushrooms with this general appearance and clamp connections on the basidia were around when non-bird dinosaurs were around to step on them. The two species that seem most similar to A. taiepa are A. diemii and “A. toxica.” Unfortunately, despite several publications about the latter, the name has never been validly published.

I would like to borrow your dried material of this collection if possible. My postal address is

Dr. R. E. Tulloss
P. O. Box 57
Roosevelt, NJ 08555-0057
USA

Thank you very much for posting these fine images.

Can you tell me more about what Kauri Forest is? Was there any Nothofagus about?

Very best,

Rod