Perichaena longipes, a new myxomycete from the Neotropics

Abstract

A new species of myxomycete, Perichaena longipes, is described from 56 sporocarp specimens that appeared in moist chamber cultures prepared with samples of decaying plant materials collected in Panama, Costa Rica and Brazil. This new species is distinguished from the morphologically similar species P. pedata on the basis of the much longer stipe, lighter peridium and the unique ornamentation of the capillitium. The nuc 18S ribosomal DNA sequences obtained from four specimens of P. longipes support the distinction of this new taxon and its separation from P. pedata. Furthermore, maximum likelihood phylogeny supports earlier evidence that species currently within the genus Perichaena do not form a monophyletic clade. Instead they appear to form three separate branches within the bright-spored clade. The first clade includes P. longipes together with several species of Trichia and Metatrichia, the second includes P. pedata and P. chrysosperma, and the third clade is composed of P. corticalis, P. depressa and P. luteola.

• moist chamber cultures
• nuc 18S ribosomal DNA
• Panama
• paraphyly
• phylogeny
• Trichiaceae

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, with direct support from staff scientists Allen Herre, Benjamin L. Turner and S. Joseph Wright. The molecular study was partially supported by a scholarship from the Fulbright Scholar Program ( grant 68130017) to the second author. Additional support was provided by the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. We thank Jeff Silberman at the University of Arkansas for his support and the use of his laboratory for all molecular work. We acknowledge Isadora Coelho for providing her specimen of Perichaena longipes from Brazil. We also acknowledge Isadora for the three 18S sequences obtained from her specimens of Arcyria cinerea and Adam Rollins for his specimens of P. pedata.