Neotropical Clavulina: Two new species from Mexico and a re-evaluation of Clavulina floridana

ABSTRACT

Clavulina comprises ca. 90 described species distributed worldwide in both tropical and temperate regions. However, only one species (C. floridana) has been described so far from tropical North America. We used morphological and molecular data from three DNA loci (nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 [ITS], a portion of nuc 28S rDNA [28S], and a fragment of DNA-directed RNA polymerase II second largest subunit [RPB2]) from basidiomata and ectomycorrhizas collected in tropical ecosystems from three biogeographic provinces of Mexico and one tropical province in the USA to investigate the phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity of Clavulina in the region. Nine new species-level clades were discovered, two of which are proposed as new species (C. arboreiparva and C. tuxtlasana). Specimens of C. floridana recently collected in Florida were included in our analyses, for which a modern description is provided. In addition, C. floridana is a new record for Mexico. The diversity of Clavulina in tropical North America is comparable to that found in lowland tropical South America. However, some of the species found in tropical deciduous forests produce small, rare, and inconspicuous basidiomata, which easily go unnoticed, and therefore are poorly represented in collections. Many species remain undescribed in tropical regions of North America.

KEYWORDS:

• Cantharellales
• mushroom diversity
• new records for Mexico
• phylogenetic diversity
• 2 new taxa

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Wethank Terry W. Henkel, Brandon Matheny, and anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions, which improved the manuscript substantially. We thank Silvia Espinoza Matías for her photographic SEM work, Aldi de Oyarzabal Salcedo for the illustrations of the described species, Laura Margarita Márquez Valdelamar from Laboratorio Nacional de Biodiversidad, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for sample sequencing, and Yorgui Santiago Andres for laboratory support.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2022.2148191

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México grant PAPIIT IN-223114 and by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONACYT 239266 granted to R.G.-O. Participation by M.E.S. was made possible in part by funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (FLA-PLP-005289 to M.E.S.) and the Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences at the University of Florida.