Amanita Mold (Hypomyces hyalinus)
At the top of a ridge (below oaks and hickory trees) in a dense mixed hardwood/coniferous forest.
Hypomyces hyalinus is a fungus that is parastic on another fungus, (usually) Amanita rubescens. It can also be found other Amanita species like Amanita frostiana, Amanita flavorubescens, Amanita muscaria, and Amanita amerirubescens. In infecting its host, it disfigures it completely. The consequence of the destruction of host gills is that spores cannot be dispersed. The host dies without reproducing via spores.
''Hypomyces hyalinus'' is a species of parasitic fungi that attacks fungi of the genus ''Amanita''. The earliest recording of this parasite was in 1822 in Salem, North Carolina, but microscopic descriptions of ''H.hyalinus'' do not appear in the literature until 1886.
