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Hotfoot webcap discovered at jezero on krk island

Prospekt News


Fig. 1. Hotfoot Webcap (Cortinarius bulliardii) from the vicinity of Jezero on Krk Island (Drawing by M. Randić)HOTFOOT WEBCAP DISCOVERED AT JEZERO ON KRK ISLAND

The hotfoot webcap (Cortinarius buillardii /Pers.:Fr./
Fr.) is listed in the Croatian Red Book of Fungi (IUCN threat category
NT) as a rare species of Croatian mycobiota (mycoflora). In Jarbolac,
a wooded area on the southern side of Jezero near Njivice on Krk Island,
members of the Ranger Service and Professional Services Unit of the Public
Institution “Priroda” led by Mr Andrej Radalj discovered some
ten fruiting bodies of this strictly protected fungal species. Mr Andrej
Radalj, an external associate of PI “Priroda”, is engaged in
researching and ringing birds at Jezero.

The genus Cortinarius Fries, a group of gilled mushrooms
with the greatest number of species in Europe, is considered very difficult
to identify. It was, however, fairly easy to recognise the hotfoot webcap,
even in the field, due to the bright orange colour that is characteristic
of the lower stem in this species (Fig. 1). Despite this, identification
is no easy task, considering that there are two other species of the genus
Cortinarius Fries with very similar features and, at first glance, morphologically
identical to the hotfoot webcap. But because these two species only grow
in continental coniferous forests (which do not exist on Krk Island!),
unlike the hotfoot webcap, that prefers deciduous forests, misidentification
is excluded.

Interestingly, the fruiting bodies of hotfoot webcaps
found in Jarbolac are growing on an overgrown forest path in a fairly
old-growth association of pubescent oak and oriental hornbeam (as. Querco-Carpinetum
orientalis), only a few tens of metres away from the habitat of the felt
lichen (Peltigera praetextata), a species of lichen rare to Krk Island.

The discovery of the hotfoot webcap was also cause for
debate at the Mycological Association “Ožujka”. Mr Anđelko Šikić,
a member of the association, informed us that he has come across this
species in the past in similar wooded habitats on Krk Island, specifically
in the regions of Porto, Turčić, Sužan and Glavotok, as well as in the
wooded areas of Čavlena Cove, implying that the species is actually not
so rare on Krk Island. This is a fact that will have to be taken into
consideration when preparing a new edition of the Red Book of Croatian
Fungi in the future.

M. Randić