Serpula himantioides Serpula himantioides Serpula himantioides is a species of fungus that causes damage to timber referred to as dry rot. It is a basidiomycete in the order Boletales. It has been found on all continents except for Antarctica. Recent molecular work demonstrates that "S. himantioides" is a species complex including multiple cryptic lineages. The fungus was first described in 1818 by Elias Magnus Fries as "Merulius himantioides". Petter Karsten transferred it to the genus "Serpula" in 1884. "Serpula himantioides" is a fungal pathogen within the division Basidiomycota. It produces thin, resupinate (inverted), membranous fan-like basidiocarps that are brownish in color and
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