The State Herbarium of South Australia‘s mycologist, Dr Teresa Lebel, published the following paper with her co-authors, yesterday, in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution (FUSE):
T. Lebel, J.A. Cooper, M.A. Castellano & J. Nuytinck (2021). Three independent evolutionary events of sequestrate Lactifluus species in Australasia. FUSE 8: 9-25 (open access).
Three Australian species of fungi with sequestrate (truffle-like) basidiome forms are recorded for the first time in the genus Lactifluus (milk-caps) based on nuclear ITS-LSU DNA sequences and morphological data. These species represent three rare independent evolutionary events resulting in truffle-like basidiomes arising from agaricoid (typical mushroom forms) species in three different sections in two subgenera. All three species have highly reduced basidiome forms, and no species with intermediate forms have been found.
Lactifluus dendriticus (T. Lebel) T. Lebel, J. Cooper & Nuytinck (originally described as Zelleromyces dendriticus) is unique in the genus Lactifluus in having highly branched, dendritic terminal elements in the pileipellis. One other new species is formally described in this paper: Lactifluus geoprofluens T. Lebel, Castellano, Claridge & Trappe. The third taxon is only given the informal name Lactifluus sp. prov. KV181, as not enough material was available for a detailled description.
The mushroom-like Lactifluus wirrabara (A) and its close relative, the truffle-like Lactifluus dendriticus (B). Photos: T. Lebel.