Four new species of Russula subsection Roseinae from tropical montane forests in western Panama.

Cathrin Manz,Clark Ovrebo,Tina A Hofmann,Katarína Adamčíková,Meike Piepenbring,Brian P Looney,Slavomír Adamčík,Adriana Corrales,Felix Hampe

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0257616

Abstract

Species of the genus Russula are key components of ectomycorrhizal ecosystems worldwide. Nevertheless, their diversity in the tropics is still poorly known. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of the diversity of Russula species classified in subsection Roseinae based on specimens recently collected in tropical montane rainforests in western Panama. A five gene multilocus phylogeny based on the nuclear markers ITS nrDNA, MCM7, RPB1, RPB2 and TEF-1α was constructed to identify the systematic position of 22 collections from Panama. Four new species, Russula cornicolor, Russula cynorhodon, Russula oreomunneae and Russula zephyrovelutipes are formally described and illustrated. None of the four species are sister species and they are more closely related to North American or Asian species. Two of the newly described species were associated with the ectomycorrhizal tree species Oreomunnea mexicana, while the other two species were associated with Quercus species. All four species are so far only known from mountains in western Panama.

Highlights

Exploring fungal diversity in the tropics is a challenging and urgent task
Roseinae recently collected in Panama were generated in the context of this study (Table 1). 22 new ITS sequences, new RPB1 sequences, new RPB2 sequences, 21 new MCM7 sequences and 17 new TEF1-α sequences were uploaded to the public database GenBank1
This study of Panamanian species belonging to Russula subsection Roseinae was facilitated by the fact that North American species of the subsection are well known

Summary

Introduction

Exploring fungal diversity in the tropics is a challenging and urgent task. Even ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi with large conspicuous fruiting bodies are underexplored due to a low number of mycologists, only sporadic development of fruiting bodies, often difficult access to their habitats, weather conditions favouring a rapid decay of fungal tissues, bureaucratic barriers, and a lack of funding [1]. Our understanding of ECM fungi and their ecological role in the neotropics is still in its infancy [2, 3]. Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) in the context of the project FunTrAf (01DG20015FunTrAf). Bjorn Wergen and Karin Patzold: traveling support given to FH

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Conclusion