New species of xerocomoid boletes (Boletaceae) from Himalayan India based on morphological and molecular evidence

Abstract

Xerocomus doodhcha and Hortiboletus indorubellus (Boletaceae) from broadleaf montane forest in Sikkim, India, are proposed as new. They are described in detail with supporting morphological illustrations and compared with related taxa using molecular phylogenetic analysis of ITS and 28S rDNA sequences. Xerocomus doodhcha is characterized by a pale brown pileus, basidiospores with a finely bacillate surface under SEM, and phylogenetic proximity to the type species of Xerocomus, X. subtomentosus. Hortiboletus indorubellus is characterized by a dark brown to reddish brown pileus, context that turns brownish to brownish orange on bruising, and phylogenetic proximity to Hortiboletus rubellus.

• Betula
• Boletaceae
• Lithocarpus
• macrofungi
• Sikkim
• taxonomy

Acknowledgments

We thank the director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, and the director, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, for providing facilities during this study. KD thanks the forest department of Sikkim, Gangtok and the scientist-in-charge, BSI, Gangtok, for letting him undertake forays to restricted and nonrestricted areas of Sikkim. Subhash Pradhan (BSI, Gangtok) and Arvind Parihar (BSI, Kolkata) are duly thanked for assisting him in the field. The authors are grateful for the helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers and the associate editor.