Research news: fungi papers published

During the last week, two papers were published by State Herbarium of South Australia‘s mycologist, Dr Teresa Lebel, and co-authors in the online version of the journal Mycologia:

Agaricus xanthodermus, p = pileus; s = stipe; a = annulus. Photo: A.-G. Boxshall.

(1) A.-G. Boxshall, J.L. Birch, T. Lebel, M.R.E. Symonds & D.L. Callahan (2021). A field-based investigation of simple phenol variation in Australian Agaricus xanthodermus. Mycologia (Publisher’s website).

Agaricus xanthodermus (yellow stainer) and other species of the yellow-staining Agaricus sect. Xanthodermatei are responsible for mushroom-related poisoning cases that require treatment. However, longstanding anecdotal evidence indicates that this species appears to exhibit considerable variation in toxicity, resulting in gastrointestinal irritation of varying severity in most cases. During her MSc research, the first author quantified the amount of phenol, hydroquinone and catechol in mushrooms and investigated their levels in different fungal structures, different developmental stages and on different nutritional substrates.

(2) J.I. de la Fuente, J.P. Pinzón, L. Guzmán-Dávalos, M.O. Uitzil-Colli, D. Gohar, T. Lebel, M. Bahram & J. García-Jiménez (2021). Revision of the genus Restingomyces, including two new species from Mexico. Mycologia (Publisher’s website).

The paper is the result of a long-standing collaboration to document the truffle diversity in American tropical regions. After a series of field surveys in southeastern Mexico, two new species in the phalloid genus Restingomyces (Trappeaceae, Phallales) were discovered. The authors describe them based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses of molecular data. Restingomyces guzmanianus and R. yaaxtax occur in medium-statured tropical dry forests. The original diagnosis of the genus Restingomyces is emended to include these novel species.

The new South American truffle Restingomyces guzmanianus, A = truffle cut in half, B = outside. Photo: J.I. de la Fuente et al.