Stop black and white thinking: Russula subgenus Compactae (Russulaceae, Russulales) in Europe revised.

Russula subgenus Compactae is a group of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes, usually with large pileate fruitbodies. European members of the group are characterised by the absence of bright colours on the surfaces of their pilei, the context turning grey to black after cutting, the abundance of short lamellulae in the hymenophore, and spores with an inamyloid suprahilar spot and with low reticulate ornamentation. Our multi-locus phylogenetic study confirmed that this morphological delimitation corresponds to a well-supported clade. Within this clade, 16 species are recognised in Europe, of which five belong to the R. albonigra lineage and were described in a previous study, while eleven are fully described in this study. The application of the names R. acrifolia, R. adusta, R. anthracina, R. atramentosa, R. densissima, R. nigricans and R. roseonigra is based on the position of sequences retrieved from types or authentic material. Based on type sequences, R. fuliginosa is synonymised with R. anthracina and two varieties of R. anthracina are considered synonyms of R. atramentosa. The application of the name R. densifolia is based on a morphological match with the traditional species interpretation and the neotype specimen. Three species are described as new, R. marxmuelleriana sp. nov., R. picrophylla sp. nov. and R. thuringiaca sp. nov. This study recognises three major lineages and two species with isolated positions within the European Compactae and a morphological barcode was assigned to the species using an analysis of 23 selected characters. A search of publicly available sequences from the UNITE database revealed that the majority of species are host tree generalists and widely distributed in temperate and Mediterranean areas of Europe. Russula adusta is the only species so far proven to form ectomycorrhiza exclusively with conifers. Citation: De Lange R, Kleine J, Hampe F, et al. 2023. Stop black and white thinking: Russula subgenus Compactae (Russulaceae, Russulales) in Europe revised. Persoonia 51: 152-193. doi: 10.3767/persoonia.2023.51.04.

A short story of nearly everything in Lactifluus (Russulaceae).

Fungi are a large and hyper-diverse group with major taxa present in every ecosystem on earth. However, compared to other eukaryotic organisms, their diversity is largely understudied. Since the rise of molecular techniques, new lineages are being discovered at an increasing rate, but many are not accurately characterised. Access to comprehensive and reliable taxonomic information of organisms is fundamental for research in different disciplines exploring a variety of questions. A globally dominant ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal family in terrestrial ecosystems is the Russulaceae (Russulales, Basidiomycota) family. Amongst the mainly agaricoid Russulaceae genera, the ectomycorrhizal genus Lactifluus was historically least studied due to its largely tropical distribution in many underexplored areas and the apparent occurrence of several species complexes. Due to increased studies in the tropics, with a focus on this genus, knowledge on Lactifluus grew. We demonstrate here that Lactifluus is now one of the best-known ECM genera. This paper aims to provide a thorough overview of the current knowledge of Lactifluus, with information on diversity, distribution, ecology, phylogeny, taxonomy, morphology, and ethnomycological uses of species in this genus. This is a result of our larger study, aimed at building a comprehensive and complete dataset or taxonomic framework for Lactifluus, based on molecular, morphological, biogeographical, and taxonomical data as a tool and reference for other researchers. Citation: De Crop E, Delgat L, Nuytinck J, Halling RE, Verbeken A (2021). A short story of nearly everything in Lactifluus (Russulaceae). Fungal Systematics and Evolution 7: 133-164. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2021.07.07.

Lactifluus (Russulaceae) diversity in Central America and the Caribbean: melting pot between realms.

Species of the ectomycorrhizal genus Lactifluus, and often entire sections, are typically unique to a single continent. Given these biogeographic patterns, an interesting region to study their diversity is Central America and the Caribbean, since the region is closely connected to and often considered a part of the North American continent, but biogeographically belong to the Neotropical realm, and comprises several regions with different geologic histories. Based on a multi-gene phylogeny and morphological study, this study shows that Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean harbour at least 35 Lactifluus species, of which 33 were never reported outside of this region. It was found that species from the Caribbean generally show affinities to South American taxa, while species from the Central American mainland generally show affinities to Northern hemispheric taxa. We hypothesise that host specificity and/or climate play a crucial role in these different origins of diversity. Because of these different affinities, Caribbean islands harbour a completely different Lactifluus diversity than the Central American mainland. The majority of species occurring on the islands can be considered endemic to certain islands or island groups. In this paper, detailed morphological descriptions are given, with a focus on the unique diversity of the islands, and identification keys to all hitherto described Lactifluus species occurring in Central America and the Caribbean are provided. One new section, Lactifluus sect. Nebulosi, and three new species, Lactifluus guadeloupensis, Lactifluus lepus and Lactifluus marmoratus are described.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 625-715.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Antarctica: Cadophora antarctica from soil. Australia: Alfaria dandenongensis on Cyperaceae, Amphosoma persooniae on Persoonia sp., Anungitea nullicana on Eucalyptus sp., Bagadiella eucalypti on Eucalyptus globulus, Castanediella eucalyptigena on Eucalyptus sp., Cercospora dianellicola on Dianella sp., Cladoriella kinglakensis on Eucalyptus regnans, Cladoriella xanthorrhoeae (incl. Cladoriellaceae fam. nov. and Cladoriellales ord. nov.) on Xanthorrhoea sp., Cochlearomyces eucalypti (incl. Cochlearomyces gen. nov. and Cochlearomycetaceae fam. nov.) on Eucalyptus obliqua, Codinaea lambertiae on Lambertia formosa, Diaporthe obtusifoliae on Acacia obtusifolia, Didymella acaciae on Acacia melanoxylon, Dothidea eucalypti on Eucalyptus dalrympleana, Fitzroyomyces cyperi (incl. Fitzroyomyces gen. nov.) on Cyperaceae, Murramarangomyces corymbiae (incl. Murramarangomyces gen. nov., Murramarangomycetaceae fam. nov. and Murramarangomycetales ord. nov.) on Corymbia maculata, Neoanungitea eucalypti (incl. Neoanungitea gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus obliqua, Neoconiothyrium persooniae (incl. Neoconiothyrium gen. nov.) on Persoonia laurina subsp. laurina, Neocrinula lambertiae (incl. Neocrinulaceae fam. nov.) on Lambertia sp., Ochroconis podocarpi on Podocarpus grayae, Paraphysalospora eucalypti (incl. Paraphysalospora gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus sieberi, Pararamichloridium livistonae (incl. Pararamichloridium gen. nov., Pararamichloridiaceae fam. nov. and Pararamichloridiales ord. nov.) on Livistona sp., Pestalotiopsis dianellae on Dianella sp., Phaeosphaeria gahniae on Gahnia aspera, Phlogicylindrium tereticornis on Eucalyptus tereticornis, Pleopassalora acaciae on Acacia obliquinervia, Pseudodactylaria xanthorrhoeae (incl. Pseudodactylaria gen. nov., Pseudodactylariaceae fam. nov. and Pseudodactylariales ord. nov.) on Xanthorrhoea sp., Pseudosporidesmium lambertiae (incl. Pseudosporidesmiaceae fam. nov.) on Lambertia formosa, Saccharata acaciae on Acacia sp., Saccharata epacridis on Epacris sp., Saccharata hakeigena on Hakea sericea, Seiridium persooniae on Persoonia sp., Semifissispora tooloomensis on Eucalyptus dunnii, Stagonospora lomandrae on Lomandra longifolia, Stagonospora victoriana on Poaceae, Subramaniomyces podocarpi on Podocarpus elatus, Sympoventuria melaleucae on Melaleuca sp., Sympoventuria regnans on Eucalyptus regnans, Trichomerium eucalypti on Eucalyptus tereticornis, Vermiculariopsiella eucalypticola on Eucalyptus dalrympleana, Verrucoconiothyrium acaciae on Acacia falciformis, Xenopassalora petrophiles (incl. Xenopassalora gen. nov.) on Petrophile sp., Zasmidium dasypogonis on Dasypogon sp., Zasmidium gahniicola on Gahnia sieberiana.Brazil: Achaetomium lippiae on Lippia gracilis, Cyathus isometricus on decaying wood, Geastrum caririense on soil, Lycoperdon demoulinii (incl. Lycoperdon subg. Arenicola) on soil, Megatomentella cristata (incl. Megatomentella gen. nov.) on unidentified plant, Mutinus verrucosus on soil, Paraopeba schefflerae (incl. Paraopeba gen. nov.) on Schefflera morototoni, Phyllosticta catimbauensis on Mandevilla catimbauensis, Pseudocercospora angularis on Prunus persica, Pseudophialophora sorghi on Sorghum bicolor, Spumula piptadeniae on Piptadenia paniculata.Bulgaria: Yarrowia parophonii from gut of Parophonus hirsutulus. Croatia: Pyrenopeziza velebitica on Lonicera borbasiana.Cyprus: Peziza halophila on coastal dunes. Czech Republic: Aspergillus contaminans from human fingernail. Ecuador: Cuphophyllus yacurensis on forest soil, Ganoderma podocarpense on fallen tree trunk. England: Pilidium anglicum (incl. Chaetomellales ord. nov.) on Eucalyptus sp. France: Planamyces parisiensis (incl. Planamyces gen. nov.) on wood inside a house. French Guiana: Lactifluus ceraceus on soil. Germany: Talaromyces musae on Musa sp. India: Hyalocladosporiella cannae on Canna indica, Nothophoma raii from soil. Italy: Setophaeosphaeria citri on Citrus reticulata, Yuccamyces citri on Citrus limon.Japan: Glutinomyces brunneus (incl. Glutinomyces gen. nov.) from roots of Quercus sp. Netherlands (all from soil): Collariella hilkhuijsenii, Fusarium petersiae, Gamsia kooimaniorum, Paracremonium binnewijzendii, Phaeoisaria annesophieae, Plectosphaerella niemeijerarum, Striaticonidium deklijnearum, Talaromyces annesophieae, Umbelopsis wiegerinckiae, Vandijckella johannae (incl. Vandijckella gen. nov. and Vandijckellaceae fam. nov.), Verhulstia trisororum (incl. Verhulstia gen. nov.). New Zealand: Lasiosphaeria similisorbina on decorticated wood. Papua New Guinea: Pseudosubramaniomyces gen. nov. (based on Pseudosubramaniomyces fusisaprophyticus comb. nov.). Slovakia: Hemileucoglossum pusillum on soil. South Africa: Tygervalleyomyces podocarpi (incl. Tygervalleyomyces gen. nov.) on Podocarpus falcatus.Spain: Coniella heterospora from herbivorous dung, Hymenochaete macrochloae on Macrochloa tenacissima, Ramaria cistophila on shrubland of Cistus ladanifer.Thailand: Polycephalomyces phaothaiensis on Coleoptera larvae, buried in soil. Uruguay: Penicillium uruguayense from soil. Vietnam: Entoloma nigrovelutinum on forest soil, Volvariella morozovae on wood of unknown tree. Morphological and culture characteristics along with DNA barcodes are provided.