Abstract
The desert truffle genus Phaeangium Patouillard, synonymized with Picoa by R. Maire, is resurrected. Phaeangium has ornamented spores at maturity and a tomentose peridium, whereas Picoa has smooth spores and no tomentum. Phaeangium and its single species, P. lefebvrei, are redescribed and placed in the family Pyronemataceae, tribe Mycolachneae. In 1978 the senior author collected quantities of a small truffle in several desert habitats in Kuwait. We determined it to be Phaeangium lefebvrei Pat. (Picoa lefebvrei (Pat.) Maire). These collections provided excellent material to redescribe this species and to reexamine its hitherto disputed generic assignment. This truffle fruits from January to April in North Africa and the Middle East during years of adequate rainfall. In Kuwait it is confined to gypsiferous and calcareous, gravelly deserts, where it is scratched out and eaten by several species of migrating birds.
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