Greetings from belowground: two new species of truffles in the genus Pachyphlodes (Pezizaceae, Pezizales) from México.

Pachyphlodes is a lineage of ectomycorrhizal, hypogeous, sequestrate ascomycete fungi native to temperate and subtropical forests in the Northern Hemisphere. Pachyphlodes species form ectomycorrhizae mainly with Fagales hosts. Here we describe two new species of Pachyphlodes, P.brunnea, and P.coalescens, based on morphological and phylogenetic analysis. Pachyphlodesbrunnea is distributed in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León in northern México, occurring with Quercus and Juglans species. It is characterized by its dark brown peridium, white gleba, and spores with capitate columns. Pachyphlodescoalescens is distributed in the states of Michoacán and Tlaxcala in central and southwestern México co-occurring with Quercus and is distinguished by its reddish-brown peridium, light yellow gleba, and spore ornamentation. Both species, along with P.marronina, constitute the Marronina clade. This clade contains North American species characterized by a brown peridium and spores ornamented with capitate spines to coalesced spine tips that form a partial perispore.

The Cedrus-associated truffle Trappeindia himalayensis is a morphologically unique and phylogenetically divergent species of Rhizopogon.

In the northwestern Himalayan mountains of India, the hypogeous sequestrate fungus Trappeindia himalayensis is harvested from forests dominated by the ectomycorrhizal tree Cedrus deodara (Himalayan cedar). This truffle has basidiospores that are ornamented with raised reticulation. The original description of Trappeindia himalayensis suggested that the gleba of this species is similar to young specimens of Scleroderma (Boletales), whereas its basidiospores are ornamented with raised reticulation, suggesting a morphological affinity to Leucogaster (Russulales) or Strobilomyces (Boletales). Given this systematic ambiguity, we have generated DNA sequence data from type material and other herbarium specimens and present the first molecular phylogenetic analysis of this unusual Cedrus-associated truffle. Despite the irregular ornamented basidiospore morphology, T. himalayensis is resolved within the genus Rhizopogon (Suillineae, Boletales) and represents a unique lineage that has not been previously detected. All known Rhizopogon species possess an ectomycorrhizal trophic mode, and because of its placement in this lineage, it is likely that Trappeindia himalayensis is an ectomycorrhizal partner of Cedrus deodara. This study highlights the importance of generating sequence data from herbarium specimens in order to identify fungal biodiversity and clarify the systematic relationships of poorly documented fungi.

Description and distribution of Tuberincognitum sp. nov. and Tuberanniae in the Transmexican Volcanic Belt.

The genus Tuber is a lineage of diverse ectomycorrhizal, hypogeous, sequestrate ascomycete fungi that are native to temperate forests in the Northern Hemisphere. Recently, many new species of Tuber have been described in North America and Asia, based on morphological characteristics and molecular data. Here we describe and illustrate a new species, Tuberincognitum, based upon phylogenetic analysis and morphological description. We also present a new record for Tuberanniae in México. These two Tuber species are distributed in the Transmexican Volcanic Belt in the states of México, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Tlaxcala at altitudes between 2,000 and 3,200 meters. These species are associated with Pinus (T.anniae) and Quercus forests (T.incognitum).

Hymenogaster macmurphyi and Splanchnomyces behrii are sequestrate species of Xerocomellus from the western United States.

Hymenogaster is an ectomycorrhizal genus of brown-spored sequestrate fungi that is related to the mushroom-forming genera Hebeloma and Alnicola (Agaricales). However, because of difficulties in morphological taxonomy of sequestrate fungi, Hymenogaster has become a polyphyletic repository for a variety of unrelated brown-spored sequestrate species. During studies of ectomycorrhizal ecology and sequestrate fungal evolution in the western USA, we encountered specimens of a morphologically unique species. It was originally described as Hymenogaster macmurphyi, but our morphological and molecular analyses indicate that it is not closely related to Hymenogaster. Phylogenetic analyses of multiple gene regions indicate that H. macmurphyi is actually a member of the Boletineae (Boletales, Basidiomycota) and is nested within the epigeous genus Xerocomellus, distantly related to any of the other known genera of sequestrate Boletales. While examining additional herbarium collections, we came upon isotype material of Splanchnomyces behrii, which represents a closely related species. Here we document the morphology and phylogenetic affinities of these unusual sequestrate Boletineae and transfer both species to Xerocomellus as X. macmurphyi and X. behrii. During our study, we also noted that the sequestrate taxon Rhopalogaster transversarius is nested within the epigeous genus Suillus.

Tuber aztecorum sp. nov., a truffle species from Mexico belonging to the Maculatum clade (Tuberaceae, Pezizales).

A new species of truffle, T. aztecorum, is described from central Mexico. Tuber aztecorum can be distinguished from other related Tuber species synoptically by a combination of morphological features including ascospore size, pellis cells with irregular thickness, cystidia, ascoma colour and associated host (Abies religiosa an endemic Abies species from central Mexico); sequence variation on the ITS rDNA also distinguishes T. aztecorum from related species. A phylogenetic analysis of the ITS rDNA demonstrates that T. aztecorum belongs to the Maculatum clade and is unique from other similar small, white-cream coloured Tuber species distributed in north-eastern Mexico such as T. castilloi and T. guevarai.

Elaphomyces species (Elaphomycetaceae, Eurotiales) from Bartlett Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA.

We describe five new species of Elaphomyces from Bartlett Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA (E. americanus, E. bartlettii, E. macrosporus, E. oreoides, and E. remickii) and revise the description of a sixth previously published species (E. verruculosus). Of the five new species, E. bartlettii and E. remickii are only known from New Hampshire whereas E. americanus, E. macrosporus, and E. oreoides are widely distributed in eastern North America. Elaphomyces verruculosus is the most widespread and abundant Elaphomyces species in eastern North America with a distribution extending from eastern Canada south to northeastern Mexico. All six Elaphomyces species are putatively associated with Tsuga canadensis, a tree species in regional decline. For five of the six Elaphomyces species, we report partially consumed ascomata or rodent fecal samples containing spores, indicating that small mammals play a key role in dispersing these Elaphomyces species and that the Elaphomyces are an important part of the small mammals' diet.

Two new Aroramyces species (Hysterangiaceae, Hysterangiales) from México.

Little is known of the truffle-like fungi of northern Mexico. Few mycologists have collected truffle-like specimens in this area. The wide diversity of habitat and potential mycorrhizal partners portend a unique and varied truffle-like mycota. In the conduct of recent field studies in this region we collected many interesting truffle-like specimens. We present two taxa that have unique characteristics, brownish spores with spines embedded within a distinctly inflated utricle surrounding each spore. Aroramyces balanosporus and A. herrerae are described as new species. This is the first record of the genus Aroramyces from North America.

Kombocles bakaiana gen. sp. nov. (Boletaceae), a new sequestrate fungus from Cameroon.

Kombocles bakaiana gen. sp. nov. is described as new to science. This sequestrate, partially hypogeous fungus was collected around and within the stilt root system of an ectomycorrhizal (ECM) tree of the genus Uapaca (Phyllanthaceae) in a Guineo-Congolian mixed tropical rainforest in Cameroon. Molecular data place this fungus in Boletaceae (Boletales, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota) with no clear relationship to previously described taxa within the family. Macro- and micromorphological characters, habitat, and DNA sequence data are provided. Unique morphological features and a molecular phylogenetic analysis of 304 sequences across the Boletales justify the recognition of the new taxa. Kombocles bakaiana is the fourth sequestrate Boletaceae described from the greater African tropics, and the first to be described from Cameroon.

New species of Elaphomyces (Elaphomycetaceae, Eurotiales, Ascomycota) from tropical rainforests of Cameroon and Guyana.

The sequestrate false truffles Elaphomyces favosus, E. iuppitercellus, and E. labyrinthinus spp. nov. are described as new to science from the Dja Biosphere Reserve, Cameroon. Elaphomyces adamizans sp. nov. is described as new from the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. The Cameroonian species are the first Elaphomyces taxa to be formally described from Africa, occurring in lowland Guineo-Congolian tropical rainforests dominated by the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) canopy tree Gilbertiodendron dewevrei (Fabaceae subfam. Caesalpinioideae). The Guyanese species is the third to be discovered in lowland tropical South America, occurring in forests dominated by the ECM trees Pakaraimaea dipterocarpacea (Dipterocarpaceae) and Dicymbe jenmanii (Fabaceae subfam. Caesalpinioideae). Macromorphological, micromorphological, habitat, and DNA sequence data are provided for each new species. Molecular and morphological data place these fungi in Elaphomycetaceae (Eurotiales, Ascomycota). Unique morphological features are congruent with molecular delimitation of each of the new species based on a phylogenetic analysis of the rDNA ITS and 28S loci across the Elaphomycetaceae. The phylogenetic analysis also suggests that a common ancestor is shared between some Elaphomyces species from Africa and South America, and that species of the stalked, volvate genus Pseudotulostoma may be nested in Elaphomyces.

Cryptic diversity in the sequestrate genus Stephanospora (Stephanosporaceae: Agaricales) in Australasia.

Historically a single name, Stephanospora flava, was applied to all collections of Stephanospora in Australasia. We used morphological characters with molecular support to differentiate and describe nine novel cryptic species, and refine the circumscription of S. flava. Stephanospora flava is herein restricted to bispored collections from Tasmania, and the quadrisporic Stephanospora tetraspora is raised to species level. Six species (four new) are endemic to Australia, S. flava s.s, S. tetraspora comb. nov., Stephanospora sheoak, Stephanospora cribbae, Stephanospora hystrispora, and Stephanospora occidentiaustralis. Three species Stephanospora poropingao, Stephanospora pounamu, and Stephanospora kanuka are endemic to New Zealand; and one species, Stephanospora aorangi occurs in both Australia and New Zealand. Two other new species, Stephanospora novae-caledoniae and Stephanospora papua, are endemic to New Caledonia or Papua New Guinea, respectively. Analyses of three nuclear gene regions (ITS, ef-1, and LSU) are consistent with current classifications of the family Stephanosporaceae. Athelidium aurantiacum is an outlier, with a strongly supported core of Cristinia (Clade I), Lindtneria (Clade II), Stephanospora, Mayamontana, and Lindtneria trachyspora (Clade III), and a novel lineage of environmental and sporocarp sequences (Clade IV). Taxonomic and nomenclatural issues raised by the presence of both type species of Stephanospora (Stephanospora caroticolor) and Lindtneria (L. trachyspora) in the same clade are discussed.

Australasian sequestrate fungi 18: Solioccasus polychromus gen. & sp. nov., a richly colored, tropical to subtropical, hypogeous fungus.

Solioccasus polychromus gen. & sp. nov., the most brightly colored hypogeous fungus known, is described from Papua New Guinea and tropical northern Australia south into subtropical forests along the Queensland coast and coastal mountains to near Brisbane. Phylogenetic analysis of molecular data places it as a sister genus to Bothia in the Boletineae, a clade of predominantly ectomycorrhizal boletes. Ectomycorrhizal trees, such as members of the Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Lophostemon, Melaleuca spp.) and Allocasuarina littoralis, were present usually in mixture or in some cases dominant, so we infer some or all of them to be among the ectomycorrhizal hosts of S. polychromus.

The enigmatic truffle Fevansia aurantiaca is an ectomycorrhizal member of the Albatrellus lineage.

Fevansia aurantiaca is an orange-colored truffle that has been collected infrequently in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. This sequestrate, hypogeous fungus was originally thought to be related to the genera Rhizopogon or Alpova in the Boletales, but the large, inflated cells in the trama and the very pale spore mass easily segregated it from these genera. To date, no molecular phylogenetic studies have determined its closest relatives. F. aurantiaca was originally discovered in leaf litter beneath Pinaceae, leading Trappe and Castellano (Mycotaxon 75:153-179, 2000) to suggest that it is an ectomycorrhizal symbiont of various members of the Pinaceae. However, without direct ecological or phylogenetic data, it is impossible to confirm the trophic mode of this truffle species. In this study, we combined phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and 28S ribosomal DNA with data on microscopic morphology to determine that F. aurantiaca is a member of the Albatrellus ectomycorrhizal lineage (Albatrellaceae, Russulales).

New Elaphomyces species (Elaphomycetaceae, Eurotiales, Ascomycota) from Guyana.

Elaphomyces compleximurus sp. nov. and E. digitatus sp. nov. are described from the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. Macromorphological, micromorphological, habitat and DNA sequence data are provided for each new species. This is the first report of Elaphomyces ascomata associated with ectomycorrhizal members of the Fabaceae and also for the genus from the lowland South American tropics.

Cryptolepiota, a new sequestrate genus in the Agaricaceae with evidence for adaptive radiation in western North America.

Phylogenetic analyses based on nLSU and ITS sequence data indicate that the sequestrate genus Gigasperma is polyphyletic. Gigasperma cryptica, which is known only from New Zealand, has affinities with the Cortinariaceae whereas G. americanum and two additional undescribed taxa from western North America are derived from Lepiota within the Agaricaceae. The three North American taxa appear to be recently evolved and are closely related. They occur in similar environments and form a well supported clade indicating that adaptive radiation has occurred within this group of fungi. An independent genus with sequestrate fructifications, Cryptolepiota is proposed to accommodate the three species in this clade. Cryptolepiota microspora and C. mengei are described as new, and G. americanum is transferred to Cryptolepiota. Gigasperma cryptica is illustrated and compared with the species of Cryptolepiota.

Biogeography of Hysterangiales (Phallomycetidae, Basidiomycota).

To understand the biogeography of truffle-like fungi, DNA sequences were analysed from representative taxa of Hysterangiales. Multigene phylogenies and the results of ancestral area reconstructions are consistent with the hypothesis of an Australian, or eastern Gondwanan, origin of Hysterangiales with subsequent range expansions to the Northern Hemisphere. However, neither Northern Hemisphere nor Southern Hemisphere taxa formed a monophyletic group, which is in conflict with a strictly vicariant scenario. Therefore, the occurrence and importance of long-distance dispersal could not be rejected. Although a pre-Gondwanan origin of Hysterangiales remains as a possibility, this hypothesis requires that Hysterangiales exist prior to the origin of the currently recognized ectomycorrhizal plants, as well as the arrival of mycophagous animals in Australia. This also requires that a basal paraphyletic assemblage represents parallel evolution of the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, or that Hysterangiales was mycorrhizal with members of the extinct flora of Gondwana. Regardless, models for both ancient and more recent origins of Hysterangiales are consistent with truffle-like fungi being capable of transoceanic dispersal.

Molecular phylogenetics of the gomphoid-phalloid fungi with an establishment of the new subclass Phallomycetidae and two new orders.

Molecular phylogenetic analyses for the gomphoid-phalloid fungi were conducted based on the five gene dataset with extensive taxon sampling. The monophyly of the gomphoid-phalloid clade was strongly supported, and four well supported major subclades were recognized. Three of the four subclades were represented entirely by gastroid taxa, and only Gomphales contained both gastroid and non-gastroid taxa. While the gastroid morphology is derived from epigeous, nongastroid taxa in Gomphales, the topology of Phallales indicated that truffle-like form is an ancestral morphology of the stinkhorn fruiting bodies. Although basidiospore maturation occurs within the enclosed fruiting bodies of the stinkhorn, the elevation of the mature spore-producing tissue represents an independent origin of the stipe among Basidiomycota. Comparisons are made between previous and new classification schemes, which are based on the results of phylogenetic analyses. Based on the results of these analyses, a new subclass Phallomycetidae, and two new orders, Hysterangiales and Geastrales, are proposed.

Fire-related changes in biomass of hypogeous sporocarps at foraging points used by a tropical mycophagous marsupial.

Changes in pre- and post-fire biomass of hypogeous fungal sporocarps remaining at locations where an endangered mycophagous marsupial, the northern bettong (Bettongia tropica), had foraged, were assessed in fire-prone sclerophyll forest in northeastern Australia. Low to medium intensity experimental fires were set during the late dry season in 1995 and 1996 and post-foraging biomass of sporocarps (expressed as biomass of sporocarps remaining at recent B. tropica diggings) was measured at unburnt and burnt sites at approximately six-week intervals for a period of 14 months. Post-foraging biomass was significantly higher at burnt sites immediately following fire compared with control sites, solely due to increased biomass of hypogeous species belonging to the family Mesophelliaceae. Several months after fire, post-foraging biomass was significantly higher on unburnt sites compared with very low biomass on burnt sites. Twelve months after fire, the biomass on burnt and unburnt sites was not significantly different, having returned to biomass observed pre-fire. All evidence points toward mesophellioid fungi being greatly more available to bettongs on recently burnt ground, but fire may make several other sporocarp taxa considerably less available several months following fire.

Use of capnometry to verify feeding tube placement.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of capnometry (carbon dioxide monitoring) in verifying gastric placement of a stylet-guided nasogastric tube in intubated, mechanically ventilated patients. DESIGN: A prospective descriptive study. SETTING: Fourteen-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit, 11-bed coronary care unit, and 18-bed chronic ventilator unit in a 700-bed teaching hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 53 adult patients on mechanical ventilation and enteral feedings. INTERVENTIONS: After the feeding tube was inserted to 30-cm length and before the first chest roentgenogram was taken, the end-tidal carbon dioxide detector was attached to the proximal end of the feeding tube. It was left in place for 1 min and was observed for a change in color (originally purple, it will turn tan or even yellow on contact with carbon dioxide). If the end-tidal carbon dioxide detector remained purple, it was interpreted as gastrointestinal placement; if it turned tan or yellow, it was interpreted as airway placement. The first chest roentgenogram was taken to confirm observations made with the end-tidal carbon dioxide detector. The feeding tube was advanced and a final chest roentgenogram verified its position below the diaphragm. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: In 52 of the 53 placements, no carbon dioxide was detected. The position in the gastrointestinal tract was confirmed by the two-step procedure. There were no false positives; the technique was 100% specific. One placement out of the 53 was found to be in the trachea. The end-tidal carbon dioxide detector appropriately detected carbon dioxide. This indicated no false negatives. To verify the sensitivity, 20 placements were made directly into the trachea through an endotracheal tube. In all 20 cases, carbon dioxide was detected. No false negatives occurred, indicating 100% sensitivity. Testing in spontaneously breathing patients was not conducted. CONCLUSIONS: Capnometry is a safe method for verifying proper feeding tube placement. The first chest roentgeno-gram can be safely eliminated. With this method, less time and money will be expended in feeding tube placement, making capnometry an efficacious new method.

Type studies of sequestrate Russulales II. Australian and New Zealand species related to Russula.

Nomenclatural types of the basionyms of species of sequestrate relatives of Russula from Australia and New Zealand were studied and original descriptions emended. Illustrations of microscopic characters are provided for the first time for many species. Several recombinations are proposed, including: (i) Arcangeliella crichtonii comb. nov. (≡ Cystangium crichtonii), (ii) Arcangeliella hepaticus comb. nov. (≡ Elasmomyces hepaticus), (iii) Macowanites tomentosa comb. nov. (≡ Hydnangium tomentosum).