Species and genera in Aleurodiscus sensu lato as viewed from the Southern Hemisphere

ABSTRACT

Phylogenetic relationships of 12 species in Aleurodiscus sensu lato (Stereaceae, Russulales) described from the Patagonian forests of Chile and Argentina were investigated based on sequences of nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) and the D1–D2 domains of nuc 28S rDNA (28S). A new genus and a new species are presented, and 10 new combinations proposed. The genus Gloeosoma is shown to be phylogenetically well supported and morphologically circumscribed; it includes G. vitellinum (type species), G. mirabile, comb. nov., G. zealandicum, comb. nov., and Gloeosoma decorticans, sp. nov., which is newly described from Chile. The new genus Stereodiscus is proposed to accommodate a group of taxa characterized by an austral distribution and morphologically by smooth, thin-walled, amyloid basidiospores and a lack of gloeocystidia and acanthocystidia; three species develop Stereum-like basidiomata and two species present discoid ones. The new genus includes the species formerly known as Aleurodiscus antarcticus, A. limonisporus, A. parmuliformis, A. patagonicus, and A. triviale. Specimens of Stereodiscus parmuliformis (A. parmuliformis) from New Zealand (where it was originally described) and southern Chile are shown to be phylogenetically conspecific, which confirms its presence in Patagonia. Gloeosoma and Stereodiscus are shown to be distantly related to Aleurodiscus s. str. and other genera in Stereaceae. The new combinations Aleurocystidiellum bernicchiae, Aleurocystidiellum hallenbergii, and Acanthobasidium quilae are proposed based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses, and Aleurodiscus cerussatus is shown to be a cryptic species complex.

KEYWORDS:

• Acanthobasidium
• Aleurocystidiellum
• Aleurodiscus vitellinus
• Gloeosoma
• Stereaceae
• systematics
• taxonomy
• wood-inhabiting fungi
• 12 new taxa

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The executive editor, Dr. P. Brandon Matheny, and the associate editor, Dr. Matthew E. Smith, handled and edited the manuscript in detail.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s Web site.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico regular no. 1190652 (Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica-Chile, to J.R.C.-P.), Proyecto de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica no. 2015/1933 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva-Argentina, to M.R.), and Proyecto de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica no. 2015/1723 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva-Argentina, to M.B.P.).