The Gomphidiaceae revisited: a worldwide perspective

Abstract

Recent studies in the Gomphidiaceae have clearly delimited two genera, Gomphidius and Chroogomphus, both of which are mycorrhizal associates only with the Pinaceae. Ecological studies show Chroogomphus as a mycorrhizal associate of Pinus (Pinoideae), while Gomphidius is associated with the other three gymnosperm subfamilies Piceoideae, Lariceideae, and Abietoideae. The genus Brauniellula, which is based upon the secotioid habit and the presence of orthotropic, statismosporic basidia, falls within Chroogomphus in a clade with ballistosporic species. Brauniellula is, therefore, placed in synonymy with Chroogomphus. Molecular and morphological studies of new material from Nepal, Russia, Korea, and the United States have delimited two new species in each genus. The morphologically identical Chroogomphus rutilus clades are separate, one European and one North American. The relationship of the two genera in the Gomphidiaceae, with their mycorrhizal associates, is related to similar host relationships within other genera in the Suilloid Clade.

• Basidiomycetes
• Gomphidiaceae
• Gomphidius
• Chroogomphus
• Brauniellula

I wish to thank Dr. M. Catherine Aime for the molecular preparation of many samples and the PAUP analysis. I thank Rebecca Abler who sequenced Gomphidius oregonensis and Dr. Lorelei Norvell, Dr. Thom Odell, and Dr. Cathy Cripps, who provided valuable material for this study. I appreciate the information on the Pinaceae from Dr. Ben LePage and the support by John Walker in the Mycology Lab as well as the support by the Dept. of Biology and my laboratory at Virginia Tech. I thank my wife, Hope, who read and edited the manuscript. I greatly appreciate the information, loans and collections from the Royal Botanic Garden (K), Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (E), New York Botanical Garden (NY), University of Michigan (MICH), and The University of Innsbruck (IB), and the many others who have contributed to this study in the past.