Multilocus phylogenetic reconstruction of the Clavariaceae (Agaricales) reveals polyphyly of agaricoid members.

The genus Camarophyllopsis contains species with lamellate (agaricoid) basidiomes in the family Clavariaceae (Agaricales), a group otherwise dominated by club-like (clavarioid) or branched (coralloid) forms. Previous studies have suggested that species classified in Camarophyllopsis occur in two independent lineages. We reconstructed a multilocus phylogeny of the Clavaria-Camarophyllopsis-Clavicorona clade in the Clavariaceae using RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2), nuclear ribosomal 28S, and nuclear ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions data and detected three independent groups of agaricoid fungi, including the genera Camarophyllopsis, Hodophilus, and Lamelloclavaria gen. nov, which distinctly differ in their pileipellis structure. In all, nine major lineages within the Clavaria-Camarophyllopsis-Clavicorona clade were recovered: Clavaria sensu stricto, Camarophyllopsis sensu stricto, Hodophilus, the Clavaria pullei clade, the Clavaria fumosa clade, Lamelloclavaria gen. nov., the Clavaria atrofusca clade, Holocoryne (= Clavaria sect. Holocoryne), and Clavicorona Clavaria is paraphyletic and represented by five clades. Additional gene sampling is necessary to determine and confirm relatedness of these lineages before splitting Clavaria into additional genera.

A systematic, morphological and ecological overview of the Clavariaceae (Agaricales).

The Clavariaceae is a diverse family of mushroom-forming fungi composed of species that produce simple clubs, coralloid, lamellate-stipitate, hydnoid and resupinate sporocarps. Here we present a systematic and ecological overview of the Clavariaceae based on phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the nuclear large subunit ribosomal RNA (nLSU), including nine from type collections. Forty-seven sequences from sporocarps of diverse taxa across the Clavariaceae were merged with 243 environmental sequences from GenBank and analyzed phylogenetically to determine major clades within the family. Four major clades or lineages were recovered: (i) Mucronella, (ii) Ramariopsis-Clavulinopsis, (iii) Hyphodontiella and (iv) Clavaria-Camarophyllopsis-Clavicorona. Clavaria is paraphyletic, within which the lamellate and pileate-stipitate genus Camarophyllopsis is derived and composed of two independent lineages. The monotypic genus Clavicorona also appears nested within Clavaria. The monophyly of Clavaria and Camarophyllopsis, however, cannot be statistically rejected. We compared differing classification schemes for the genera Ramariopsis and Clavulinopsis, most of which are inconsistent with the molecular phylogeny and are statistically rejected. Scytinopogon, a genus classified in the Clavariaceae by several authors, shares phylogenetic affinities with the Trechisporales. Overall 126 molecular operational taxonomic units can be recognized in the Clavariaceae, roughly half of which are known only from environmental sequences, an estimate that exceeds the known number of species in the family. Stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen were measured from specimens representing most major phylogenetic lineages to predict trophic strategies. These results suggest that most non-lignicolous species feature a biotrophic mode of nutrition. Ancestral state reconstruction analysis highlights the taxonomic significance of at least nine morphological traits at various depths in the family tree.

Craterellus fallax, a Black Trumpet mushroom from eastern North America with a broad host range.

Phylogenetic analysis of ITS sequences of members of the Craterellus cornucopioides complex (Black Trumpet mushrooms) supports the taxonomic separation of Craterellus fallax apart from C. cornucopioides, with which it has been synonymized in the past. Examination of Pinus virginiana ectomycorrhizal (ECM) root tips and sequence comparison with other insufficiently identified environmental sequences from roots of Tsuga, Quercus, and possibly Castanea supports a broad host range in North America for the ECM symbiont C. fallax. This is the first molecular confirmation of an ECM symbiont with P. virginiana, which associates with a wide diversity of ECM fungi, and the first report of a Cantharellaceae symbiont with this tree, an eastern North American two-needled pine. Three unique species in the C. cornucopioides complex are recovered based on phylogenetic analysis: C. fallax, C. cornucopioides, and an unidentified Craterellus species similar to C. fallax but smaller in stature with smaller spores.