Morphological and molecular identification of three new species of Tomentella from Finland

ABSTRACT

Three new species of Tomentella (Thelephorales) from Finland, T. globosa, T. lammiensis, and T. longisterigmata, are described and illustrated with morphological characteristics and nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequences. T. globosa is characterized by mucedinoid, pale to dark brown basidiocarps adherent to the substrate, generative hyphae with clamps and rarely with simple septa, and echinulate, globose basidiospores (echinuli up to 1.5 μm long). T. lammiensis is characterized by mucedinoid, oxide yellow to golden brown basidiocarps adherent to the substrate, generative hyphae with clamps and rarely with simple septa, and echinulate, ellipsoid, triangular, or lobbed basidiospores (echinuli up to 2 μm long). T. longisterigmata is characterized by mucedinoid, dark brown to chestnut basidiocarps separable from the substrate, generative hyphae clamped and rarely with simple septa, the long basidial sterigmata (7–11 μm long), and echinulate, globose basidiospores (echinuli up to 2 μm long). An absence of rhizomorphs and cystidia is their common morphological feature. Molecular analyses by maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian analyses confirm the phylogenetic position of these three new species. The discriminating characters of these new species and their closely related species are discussed in this study, and a key to the species from Finland is provided.

KEYWORDS:

• ITS
• phylogeny
• taxonomy
• Tomentelloid fungi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Hai-Sheng Yuan is particularly grateful to Lammi Biological Station (University of Helsinki, Finland) and Academy of Finland for accommodation during his stay in Finland. This research was financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 31470148), the Special Project of Science and Technology Foundation (Project No. 2014FY210400), and the Special Funds for the Young Scholars of Taxonomy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Project No. ZSBR-015).