Tremella vesiculosa

Tremella vesiculosa is a species of fungus in the family Tremellaceae. It produces light brown, lobed, gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) and is parasitic on other fungi on dead branches of broad-leaved trees. It was originally described from New Zealand.

Taxonomy
Tremella vesiculosa was first published in 1990 by Robert Bandoni and Peter Buchanan, based on collections and notes made by the late New Zealand mycologist R.F.R. McNabb.

Description
Fruit bodies are firm, gelatinous, brick-red to reddish brown, up to 5 cm (2 in) across, and lobed, the lobes thick and inflated (vesiculose). Microscopically, the basidia are tremelloid (subglobose to broadly clavate, with oblique to vertical septa), 4-celled, 11.5 to 20 by 8 to 12.5 μm. The basidiospores are ellipsoid, smooth, 8 to 9 by 5.5 to 7 μm.

Similar species
Phaeotremella species are both brown and gelatinous, but have lobes that are comparatively thin, uninflated, and frondose. Tremella laurisilvae, described from the Canary Islands, is similar but geographically distant.

Habitat and distribution
Tremella vesiculosa is a parasite on lignicolous fungi, but its host species is unknown, though the original collections were associated with xylariaceous fungi. It is found on dead, attached or fallen branches of broad-leaved trees.

The species was described from New Zealand and has been reported from Australia.