Serpula himantioides due to a lack of any above ground symptoms of disease. Signs of the pathogen include basidiospores, and fungal masses that are generally dark brown and membranous in the center but become thin white mycelium towards edges of the mass. The brown cubical rot caused by "S. himantioides" resembles the rots of "Phaeolus schweinitzii" and "S. lacrymans". "Serpula himantiodes" is a pre-harvest pathogen that exerts economic impact on lumber supply. It is considered the wild sister species of "S. lacrymans", the pathogen that causes dry rot in wooden building structures. "S. himantioides" is studied most frequently in the context of
Serpula (fungus) Serpula (fungus) Serpula is a genus of fungi in the family Serpulaceae. The term was originally defined by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon as a section of the genus "Merulius" in 1801. British botanist Samuel Frederick Gray raised it to genus status in his 1821 work "The Natural Arrangement of British Plants". The name is derived from the Latin verb "serpěre" "to creep". Synonyms include Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link's 1809 "Xylophagous", Christian Hendrik Persoon's 1825 "Xylomyzon", Narcisse Théophile Patouillard's 1874 "Gyrophora", and Patouillard's 1897 "Gyrophana". "Serpula" forms a clade with at least two other closely related genera, "Austropaxillus" and "Gymnopaxillus", the three