Deconica coprophila

Description

Deconica coprophila is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. It is a small, reddish-brown mushroom that emerges from the dung of cows, horses, and other livestock. This species is also known as dung-loving Psilocybe and is synonymous with Psilocybe coprophila, but contains no hallucinogenic compounds.

First described as Agaricus coprophilus by Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard in 1793, it was transferred to the genus Psilocybe by Paul Kummer in 1871. In the late 2000s, several molecular studies showed that the Psilocybe was polyphyletic, and the non-bluing (non-hallucinogenic) species were transferred to Deconica.

While non-toxic, the species is not a good edible mushroom.

Common names: Round Dung Mushroom, Dung Demon.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   1.0-2.5 cm broad, at first hemispheric, sometimes with a low umbo at the disc, becoming convex, broadly so in age; margin incurved, in age decurved to occasionally plane, fringed with evanescent whitish scales when young; surface glabrous, subviscid, translucent-striate when young and fresh, hygrophanous; color reddish-brown to dingy yellowish-brown, fading in age; context thin, colored like the cap, unchanging when cut or bruised.

2. Gills

   Adnate, subdistant, relatively broad, pale grey when young, becoming grayish-brown, finally purple-brown.

3. Stem

   1.5 - 5.0 cm long, 1.0-3.0 mm thick, equal, dry, straight to sometimes curved at the base; surface often squamulose when young, becoming fibrillose, whitish to dingy yellow-brown, not bruising blue; partial veil absent or if present, evanescent leaving fine scales on the young pileus and/or in a superior ring zone.

4. Spores

   11-14 x 7-9 µm, ellipsoid, smooth.

5. Spore Print

   Purple-brown.

6. Habitat

   Scattered to clustered on horse and cow dung; fruiting after rains during the winter months.

7. Similar Species

   Is most likely to be confused with Stropharia semiglobata, another dung dweller with a viscid cap, but the latter is more yellowish, lacks a translucent striate margin even when young, and has a slimy, not dry stipe. Other mushrooms found on dung include Panaeolus and Coprinus species. Species of Panaeolus can be separated by dry, not viscid caps and distinctive mottled gills, while Coprinus species typically dissolve into an inky liquid in age.

Synonyms

1. Agaricus coprophilus Bull. (1793)

2. Psilocybe coprophila (Bull.) P.Kumm. (1871) Stropharia coprophila (Bull.) J.E. Lange (1936)

3. Stropharia coprophila

4. Psilocybe coprophila

5. Geophila coprophila

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Justin Paulin (they/them) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 2 - Author: TimmiT (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: José Belem Hernández Díaz (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Dr. Hans-Günter Wagner (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photo 5 - Author: Alan Rockefeller (Alan Rockefeller) (CC BY-SA 3.0)