Ecology and Fungicolous Lifestyle of Hypomyces aurantius Associated with the Newly Recorded Host Lyophyllum littoralis.

Despite developing on other fungi and forming complex ecological interactions, fungicolous fungi are among the understudied groups. This study examined the fungicolous fungi Hypomyces aurantius and its host species, Lyophyllum littoralis, in detail using morphological and molecular data. Both species are new records for the Turkish mycobiota. The macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of both species were evaluated in depth, and morphological descriptions were corroborated by molecular analyses based on the nuclear ITS region. It was observed that H. aurantius heavily colonised L. littoralis, a previously unreported host, causing significant softening and degradation of the host tissue. We investigated extracellular enzyme activities to determine the mycoparasitic activity of H. aurantius on the host fungus and its environmental survival strategies. We detected positive enzyme activities. These results suggest that H. aurantius is a potential mycoparasite. This study contributes to our understanding of fungal biodiversity in Türkiye and provides a foundation for understanding the ecology of supra-fungal fungi and fungicolous/mycoparasitic interactions. conclusions.