IMC8 Fungus of the Month - February 2004

Mycena interrupta - Pixies Parasol

Mycena interrupta (Pixie's Parasol) is a delicate, vivid blue agaric, which grows on large fallen wood in wetter forests, sometimes (as in the photo) among carpets of mosses and liverworts.

Mycena interrupta is found in Australia, New Zealand and Chile. A number of other macrofungi have similar Gondwanan distribution patterns. Links between the mycota of Australia and New Zealand, in particular, have been emphasised. The recent revision of Australian species of Mycena by Cheryl Grgurinovic has, however, revealed a high level of endemism among the 65 species of Mycena in Australia. M. interrupta is one of only four species of Mycena found in both Australia and New Zealand.

Further Information
Grgurinovic, C.A. (2001), The Agaricales in Australasia. Australian Systematic Botany 14: 395-406.
Grgurinovic, C.A. (2002). The genus Mycena in south-eastern Australia. Fungal Diversity Press, Hong Kong, & Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.