New species and distribution records of Clavulina (Cantharellales, Basidiomycota) from the Guiana Shield

Abstract

Two new species of Clavulina Schroet. (Clavulinaceae, Cantharellales, Basidiomycota) and new distribution records for Clavulina amazonensis Corner and Clavulina sprucei (Berk.) Corner are described from the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana, in the central Guiana Shield region. These fungi occur in rainforests dominated by ectomycorrhizal (ECM) trees of the leguminous genus Dicymbe (Fabaceae subfam. Caesalpinioideae). Macromorphological, micromorphological and habitat data are provided for each species. Nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region and 28S subunit were obtained for new species and from representative collections of C. amazonensis and C. sprucei. The two new species, Clavulina kunmudlutsa sp. nov. and Clavulina tepurumenga sp. nov., constitute important edible fungi for the Patamona Amerindians. Our specimens of C. sprucei represent the first reports of the species since 1853 as well as a range extension of nearly 1500 km, while sequence data from basidiomata as well as ECM roots suggest that this taxon consists of a cryptic species complex.

• clavarioid fungi
• ectomycorrhiza
• Guyana
• Neotropics
• systematics
• taxonomy

The authors thank the following for financial support: National Science Foundation DEB-0918591 and the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration (TWH), Harvard University Herbaria (MES), a field research gift from W.K. Smith and NSF DEB-0732968 (MCA). Field assistance in Guyana was provided by M. Chin, C. Andrew, V. Joseph, P. Joseph, F. Edmond and L. Edmond. Research permits were granted by the Guyana Environmental Protection Agency. The authors thank C. Feuillet for the Latin diagnoses and R. Petersen for access to undetermined Neotropical clavarioid collections at the University of Tennessee Fungus Herbarium. Gary Samuels is thanked for providing additional data on collections originally made by him in Guyana. Bryn Dentinger provided access to Clavulina type specimens at Kew Gardens. This paper is number 170 in the Smithsonian Institution’s Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield ProgramPUBLICation series.