A new stipitate species of Crepidotus from India and Thailand, with notes on other tropical species

ABSTRACT

A new Asian species of Crepidotus (Basidiomycota, Agaricales), C. asiaticus, is presented based on morphological and nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 = ITS) and large subunit (28S) sequence data. This new species, found in India and Thailand, is characterized by the centrally stipitate medium-sized basidiomata, orange to reddish brown pileus, white to brownish orange lamellae, and white stipe. Based on morphology, C. asiaticus is similar to the neotropical C. thermophilus. However, the microscopic characters, especially the size and shape of the basidiospores, can be used to distinguish these two taxa, as well as their geographic distributions. Further, the phylogenetic position of C. asiaticus is unique based on ITS and 28S nuc rDNA sequences. Melanomphalia argipoda, described by Singer from Ecuador, is also a stipitate Crepidotus based on an ITS sequence of the type specimen, so the new combination is proposed here. Phylogenetically, the three species form a monophyletic group with the Asiatic C. asiaticus forming the sister lineage to the neotropical C. argipodus and C. thermophilus.

KEYWORDS:

• Crepidotaceae
• fungal taxonomy
• Tubaria

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Brandon Matheny for revision and critical comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. T.J.B. is grateful for the contribution of K. Soytong and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology for providing Roy Halling with a Material Transfer Agreement to study Thai macrofungi specimens. We are grateful to Aarón Rodríguez Contreras for the use of the molecular sequencer, to Georgina Vargas Amado for the molecular work, and to Gastón Guzmán†, Vagner Gularte Cortez, and Fidel Landeros for literature.

Additional information

Funding

L.G.-D. received funds from CONACYT-42594, UdeG-108721, and UdeG-123504 for this research. A.R.V.-A. was supported by P3E 233668 and PRODEP (2015-UDG-CA-44) grants. T.J.B. was funded by an NSF grant (no. DEB-0414665) to Roy Halling of the New York Botanical Garden for work in Thailand.