Mycological research and citizen science: morphological features and DNA sequencing reveal seven new species records for the Greek mycobiota

Abstract

During the last 20 years citizen science has largely contributed at promoting knowledge about mushroom diversity in Greece. In the frame of an ongoing collaboration among amateur and professional mycologists, hundreds of specimens have been subjected to DNA sequencing, followed by phylogenetic analyses and detailed morphoanatomical examination of selected collections. The study of recent findings revealed the existence of seven species which are new records for the Greek mycobiota, i.e. Amanita codinae, Cleistocybe carneogrisea, Hebeloma limbatum, Infundibulicybe alkaliviolascens, Lepiota farinolens, Leucoagaricus pilatianus and Pholiotina mediterranea. In particular, C. carneogrisea is a rare Mediterranean species, which has been proposed by the IUCN for inclusion in the Global Red List of Fungi. Moreover, these predominantly or exclusively southern European species are described and evaluated. All findings are discussed in respect to their most prominent features and closely related taxa, while ITS phylogenetic trees are presented for A. codinae and L. farinolens by including mainly species of the sections Lepidella and Ovisporae, respectively.

Keywords:

• Amanita
• Basidiomycota
• biodiversity
• Mediterranean
• mushroom
• Lepiota
• taxonomy

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to D. Mponis for providing specimens and the photo of A. codinae, and to B. Assyov for sharing information about his A. codinae collections from Greece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partly funded by the Greek Mushroom Society.