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 vigorous pumping movements of the abdomen and also by the activity of the ciliary tracts. The well-developed longitudinal muscles of the body wall of serpulids lack a special blood supply. The body surface in the larger serpulids, like "Serpula", has a rich blood supply, and the water in contact with this surface is constantly renewed. It seems probable that the outer body surface of serpulids serves as a respiratory membrane, supplying oxygen to the underlying muscles by diffusion. The biochemistry of the blood of "Serpula" is especially unusual in that the blood contains not only hemoglobin, but also chlorocruorin. While