Psiloboletinus is an independent genus sister to Suillus

ABSTRACT

The genus Psiloboletinus was proposed by Rolf Singer in 1945 based on Phylloporus lariceti, a species that associates with Larix in the Altai Mountains of central and eastern Asia. However, this classification has been controversial due to the morphological similarity to known genera Boletinus and Fuscoboletinus. Because of the lack of fresh material to study, the phylogenetic position of Psiloboletinus has remained unknown since its publication. However, the recently described species Suillus foetidus reported from northeast China allows this issue to be reexamined and resolved. Through morphological observations and comparison, we find that S. foetidus is a heterotypic synonym of Ps. lariceti. Furthermore, Psiloboletinus should be retained as an independent genus sister to Suillus based on molecular phylogenetic evidence and morphological features.

KEYWORDS:

• Larch
• multilocus molecular phylogeny
• Phylloporus
• Suillaceae
• taxonomy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank the Herbarium of Mycology of Jilin Agricultural University (HMJAU), Mycological Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LE), and M. G. Popov Herbarium (NSK) of Central Siberian Botanical Garden, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, for the loan of specimens. The authors also thank Dr. Yang-Yang Cui in Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for her assistance on morphological observations. The authors are grateful to the editor (P. B. Matheny) and anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Research Program of Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under grant number KIB2017002; the International Partnership Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under grant number 151853KYSB20170026; Yunnan Ten Thousand Talents Plan Young & Elite Talents Project, the Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province, under grant number 2017FB023, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant number 31970015, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under grant number 2017436, the Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of Guangxi Province under grant number 2018JJB130139. The study of Olga V. Morozova was carried out within the framework of research project of the Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, “Herbarium funds of the BIN RAS” (grant no. АААА-А18-118022090078-2).