Molecular and morphological data confirmed the presence of the rare species Mattirolomyces terfezioides in China

Abstract

Although the species Mattirolomyces terfezioides (≡ Terfezia terfezioides) has been recorded from China several times but it is really rare taxon with important ecological and economic value, the conspecificity with European material has never been tested by molecular data. We re-examined three specimens labelled as T. terfezioides, one as T. leonis and one as Terfezia sp. in the herbarium HMAS and obtained five ITS and three LSU sequences. Our morphological observation and DNA sequences show that one specimen (HMAS 83766) labelled as M. terfezioides turns out to be Choiromyces sp. and the other four are M. terfezioides. The ITS and (or) LSU sequences of the Chinese samples are identical with or with 99% similarity to those from the European samples, which fully confirms the presence of M. terfezioides in China. The species is currently known from northern China (Hebei Province, Beijing and Shanxi Province). This study shows that M. terfezioides has a Euroasia distribution other than European endemism and such distribution might be explained by the co-occurrence with the potential host tree Robinia pseudoacacia.