Linking mycorrhizas to sporocarps: a new species, Geopora cercocarpi, on Cercocarpus ledifolius (Rosaceae)

Abstract

Mycorrhizal assemblages characterized by molecular data frequently differ from collections of mycorrhizal sporocarps at the same site. Geopora species are frequent mycobionts of ectomycorrhizal roots, but except for G. cooperi they are rarely identified to species by molecular methods. Among the mycobionts of ectomycorrhizas with Cercocarpus ledifolius (Rosaceae) was a fungal species with a 91% BLAST match to G. arenicola. To determine the species of Geopora we surveyed for hypogeous sporocarps under C. ledifolius at sites in southern Oregon where the Geopora mycorrhizas had been collected and identified by DNA sequences of the ITS region. We found sporocarps of a Geopora species with 100% BLAST match to the mycorrhizas. Morphological characters of a white hymenium, inrolled entire margin and large spores, along with a hypogeous habit and a mycorrhizal host of C. ledifolius, distinguished these specimens from previously described species. Here we describe a new species, Geopora cercocarpi.