Two new Lycoperdon species collected from Korea: L. albiperidium and L. subperlatum spp. nov.

Abstract

Thirty-four Lycoperdon specimens from Korea were examined with the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA sequence data. The result of the ITS sequences phylogenetic analysis indicated that the Korean specimens represented nine different species. To confirm the taxonomic position of these species, we conducted an intensive morphological investigation, and additional phylogenetic investigation of the protein coding regions RNA polymerase subunit II (RPB2) and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1). We discovered two new species (L. albiperidium and L. subperlatum) and one (L. ericaeum) newly discovered in Korea. Lycoperdon albiperidium is closely related to L. ericaeum based on ITS, RPB2 and TEF1 sequence data, but these species were distinguishable by morphological characteristics, especially the shape of the basidiocarps, the diameter of the eucapillitial threads and the size of the basidospores. Lycoperdon subperlatum is quite similar to the European and American L. perlatum based on morphological characteristics. However, L. subperlatum is clearly distinct from European and American L. perlatum based on ITS, RPB2 and TEF1 sequence data, and somewhat differs from them in macro-and microscopic characteristics. Based on morphological characteristics, L. ericaeum is related to L. subumbrinum and L. lividum but it is distinguishable by the presence of fragile, eucapillitial threads, the diameters of the threads and ITS sequences. Here, we describe four Lycoperdon species collected in Korea.

Species Diversity of Lycoperdaceae (Agaricales) in Israel, with Some Insights into the Phylogenetic Structure of the Family

“…Clade B comprised six sequences of Apioperdon pyriforme representing the material from Israel (OR594093, OR594096), Ukraine (OR594094, OR594095, OR594097), and one sequence obtained from the Swedish specimen by Larsson and Jeppson [41]. The clade had significant statistical support (100% BS and 1.00 BPP) and was located more basally within the family, supporting the data of Bates et al [43] and Kim et al [21], which, however, do not agree with the topologies presented in a number of studies [2,14,41,44]. The sequences obtained from Ukrainian and Israeli specimens clustered together, while the sequence GenBank no.…”

“…These two species also clustered together in the phylogram presented by Bates et al [43], although their position in relation to other species of the genus Calvatia was not statistically supported. In the study of Kim et al, C. gigantea, C. bicolor and "C. pachydermica" (C. pachyderma, voucher AN014692) formed a well-supported clade (95% BS / 1.0 BPP) [21]. In the current analysis, the subclade D2 received support by both ML and BI methods (98% BS and 1.00 BPP).…”

“…In the light of the current research and previous molecular studies [14,15,21,41,43,44], Kreisel's concept of the genus Handkea [77] appears to have a polyphyletic origin and presents an artificial taxon [78]. The main distinguishing characteristic of the genus, on the basis of which it was segregated from Calvatia, is slit-like pores in the capillitium.…”

“…Kirk et al reported approximately 150 species as members [11]. This figure obviously does not represent the real number of species known to date, because many novel species have been recently described [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The Encyclopaedia Britannica web resource lists 160 species [25], but this number includes the "earthstars"-representatives of the genus Geastrum Pers.…”

“…Kreisel, which is registered for Israel, some researchers believed that the presence of a morphological feature, such as a diaphragm, was sufficient to place the species in the genus Vascellum F. Šmarda [5,42]. However, this proved to be unsubstantiated from a molecular perspective: phylogenetic studies [2,21,41,43,44] showed that V. pratense groups with core species of the genus Lycoperdon, including Lycoperdon perlatum Pers. : Pers., L. marginatum Vittad.…”