Taxonomy and phylogeny of Paramarasmius gen. nov. and Paramarasmius mesosporus, a worldwide distributed fungus with a strict ecological niche

Abstract

Specimens of Marasmiellus mesosporus from various parts of the world were morphologically and phylogenetically studied. The results confirmed its identity with M. dunensis, described from southern Europe, and M. arenaceus, described from Japan. Marasmiellus mesosporus is a fungus connected with coastal sandy dunes having a wide distribution being collected in southeastern North America, Lesser and Greater Antilles, Pacific Islands, southern Europe and South and East Asia. Its comparison with phylogenetically and morphologically related species is provided. A new genus Paramarasmius containing P. palmivorus, as the type species, and P. mesosporus is described on the base of phylogenetic analyses of ITS and LSU rDNA sequences. A new combination Collybiopsis carneopallida is also proposed.

Keywords:

• Paramarasmius
• ITS
• LSU
• phylogeny
• ecology
• distribution

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the curators of the F and MCVE herbaria for loans of the type and other specimens.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The studies of the first author (V.A.) were enabled by the support provided to the Moravian Museum by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as part of its long-term conceptual development programme for research institutions (DKRVO, ref. MK000094862). His collection trip to the Republic of Korea was supported by project FP 0801-2010-01 of the National Institute of Forest Science in South Korea, and the collecting trip to Martinique was made possible through financial help from Communauté Territoriale de Martinique, Parc Naturel Régional de Martinique (PNRM) and French National Forestry Office (ONF). The study was also partially funded by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant 20K06805 to the second author (K.H.).