The shape, markedly wrinkled but unbroken skin and colouration makes me think more of a Calvatia. If I'm right the whole thing would have been fairly soft to the touch, with a finger able to depress it at any point. Not so with Pisolithus. Any comment on that point?
It seemed more solid to touch than soft (after I took the images). I had considered Calvatia but I could not remember if they disrupted the ground around them as much as this when the fruit body formed. Whereas I had seen what I assumed were Pisolithus breaking through along Corin road on the way out in the morning. I assumed Calvatia expand at the ground surface and Pisolithus through the ground surface, but possibly wrong on that one. There was no tidying up of the area before these images were recorded, it wasn't needed
I haven't paid any attention to the amount of disturbance around the base of a Calvatia compared to that around a Pisolithus (which I have seen poking out of the ground with virtually no visible disturbance). Often when I see a Calvatia it's amongst grasses or in leaf/twig litter, so it wouldn't be easy to see the level of disturbance without creating more. However, that wrinkly surface seems very un-Pisolithus-like.
I think I'm now leaning towards a Calvatia. When I prodded this I only touched the side and its possible I got the diaphragm or sterile base area. I have now posted http://canberranaturemap.org/Community/Sightings/Details/2459153 which was mostly soft all over but there were some firm areas and I see some similarity between these two sightings.
Describe how you intend to use these images and/or audio files and your request will be sent to the author for consideration.
Your request has been successfully submitted to the author for consideration.
1,893,031 sightings of 21,044 species in 9,272 locations from 12,889 contributors
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.