Romagnesi dung (Coprinopsis romagnesiana)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Psathyrellaceae (Psatirellaceae)
- Genus: Coprinopsis (Koprinopsis)
- Species: Coprinopsis romagnesiana (Romanesi dung)
The Romanesi dung beetle can be called a kind of analogue of the well-known gray dung beetle, only with more pronounced scaly. The gray dung beetle has a gray cap with several tiny scales in the center, and the Romagnesi dung beetle is noticeably decorated with brown or orange-brown scales. Like other dung beetles, the plates of the Romagnesi dung beetle blacken with age and eventually liquefy, creating an inky slime.
Description :
Ecology : Saprophyte growing in clusters on tree stumps or on rotting roots around tree stumps.
Occurs in spring and summer, there is evidence that two periods of fruiting are possible: April-May and again in October-November, possibly growing in summer with cool weather or in cool regions.
Cap : 3-6 cm in diameter, in young mushrooms of regular oval or ovoid shape, expands with maturity, acquiring a bell-shaped or broadly convex shape. Light, whitish to beige, densely covered with adjacent brown, brown, orange-brown scales. As the scales grow, the scales diverge slightly, remaining denser in the central part of the cap.
Plates : Adherent or loose, rather frequent, white in young mushrooms, with the onset of autolysis acquire a purple-black color, ultimately liquefy, turning into black "ink".
Leg : 6-10 cm in height, according to some sources up to 12 cm, and up to 1.5 cm thick. White, whitish, off-white, hollow in adult fungi, fibrous, fragile, slightly pubescent. May have a slight expansion downward.
Flesh : very thin in the cap (most of the cap are plates), white.
Smell and taste : indistinct.
Edible : The mushroom is considered edible (conditionally edible) at a young age, until the plates begin to turn black. Regarding the possible incompatibility with alcohol inherent in gray dung beetle: there is no reliable data.
Similar species :
Gray dung beetle (Coprinus atramentarius) in appearance, but in general is similar to all dung beetles, ending their life by turning into a slimy ink stain.