Serpula lacrymans Serpula lacrymans Serpula lacrymans is one of the fungi that cause damage to timber referred to as dry rot. It is a basidiomycete in the order Boletales. The species was first described under the name "Boletus lacrymans" by Franz Xavier von Wulfen in 1781. It was transferred to the genus "Serpula" by Petter Karsten in 1884. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin words "serpula" for "creeping" (as in a serpent) and "lacrymans", meaning "making tears". "Serpula lacrymans" has a preference for temperatures of but can survive any temperature from . It is not clear how much light is
Serpula (fungus) composing the family Serpulaceae. It is thought that the common ancestor was saprotrophic,and that ancestor to the latter two genera became mycorrhizal. Using molecular clock analysis, the split between "Austropaxillus" and "Serpula" has been estimated to have occurred about 34.9 mya, roughly coinciding with the separation of South America and Australia from Antarctica. The number of species is uncertain – the two species "S. lacrymans" and "S. himantioides" have been considered to be a single species, or the latter species has possibly five cryptic species within its complex. The members of the genus "Serpula" form flat brown fruit bodies that