Historical biogeography and diversification of ringless Amanita (section Vaginatae) support an African origin and suggest niche conservatism in the Americas.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM) sustain nutrient recycling in most terrestrial ecosystems, yet we know little about what major biogeographical events gave rise to present-day diversity and distribution patterns. Given the strict relationship between some ECM lineages and their hosts, geographically well-sampled phylogenies are central to understanding major evolutionary processes of fungal biodiversity patterns. Here, we focus on Amanita sect. Vaginatae to address global diversity and distribution patterns. Ancestral-state-reconstruction based on a 4-gene timetree with over 200 species supports an African origin between the late Paleocene and the early Eocene (ca. 56 Ma). Major biogeographic "out-of-Africa" events include multiple dispersal events to Southeast Asia (ca. 45-21 Ma), Madagascar (ca. 18 Ma), and the current Amazonian basin (ca. 45-36 Ma), the last two likely trans-oceanic. Later events originating in Southeast Asia involve Nearctic dispersal to North America (ca. 20-5 Ma), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand; ca. 15 Ma), and Europe (ca. 10-5 Ma). Subsequent dispersals were also inferred from Southeast Asia to East Asia (ca. 4 Ma); from North America to East Asia (ca. 11-8 Ma), Southeast Asia (ca. 19-2 Ma), Northern Andes (ca. 15 Ma), and Europe (ca. 15-2 Ma), respectively; and from the Amazon to the Caribbean region (ca. 25-20 Ma). Finally, we detected a significant increase in the net diversification rates in the branch leading to most northern temperate species in addition to higher state-dependent diversification rates in temperate lineages, consistent with previous findings. These results suggest that species of sect. Vaginatae likely have higher dispersal ability and higher adaptability to new environments, in particular compared to those of its sister clade, sect. Caesareae. Overall, the much wider distribution of A. sect. Vaginatae, from pan-tropical to pan-arctic, provides a unique window to understanding niche conservatism across a species-rich clade of ECM fungi.

Morphology, Multilocus Phylogeny, and Toxin Analysis Reveal Amanita albolimbata, the First Lethal Amanita Species From Benin, West Africa.

Many species of Amanita sect. Phalloideae (Fr.) Quél. cause death of people after consumption around the world. Amanita albolimbata, a new species of A. sect. Phalloideae from Benin, is described here. The taxon represents the first lethal species of A. sect. Phalloideae known from Benin. Morphology and molecular phylogenetic analyses based on five genes (ITS, nrLSU, rpb2, tef1-α, and ß-tubulin) revealed that A. albolimbata is a distinct species. The species is characterized by its smooth, white pileus sometimes covered by a patchy volval remnant, a bulbous stipe with a white limbate volva, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid, amyloid basidiospores, and abundant inflated cells in the volva. Screening for the most notorious toxins by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed the presence of α-amanitin, ß-amanitin, and phallacidin in A. albolimbata.

Mapping mycological ignorance - checklists and diversity patterns of fungi known for West Africa.

Scientific information about biodiversity distribution is indispensable for nature conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. For several groups of animals and plants, such data are available, but for fungi, especially in tropical regions like West Africa, they are mostly missing. Here, information for West African countries about species diversity of fungi and fungus-like organisms (other organisms traditionally studied by mycologists) is compiled from literature and analysed in its historical context for the first time. More than 16,000 records of fungi representing 4843 species and infraspecific taxa were found in 860 publications relating to West Africa. Records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database (2395 species), and that of the former International Mycological Institute fungal reference collection (IMI) (2526 species) were also considered. The compilation based on literature is more comprehensive than the GBIF and IMI data, although they include 914 and 679 species names, respectively, which are not present in the checklist based on literature. According to data available in literature, knowledge on fungal richness ranges from 19 species (Guinea Bissau) to 1595 (Sierra Leone). In estimating existing species diversity, richness estimators and the Hawksworth 6:1 fungus to plant species ratio were used. Based on the Hawksworth ratio, known fungal diversity in West Africa represents 11.4% of the expected diversity. For six West African countries, however, known fungal species diversity is less than 2%. Incomplete knowledge of fungal diversity is also evident by species accumulation curves not reaching saturation, by 45.3% of the fungal species in the checklist being cited only once for West Africa, and by 66.5% of the fungal species in the checklist reported only for a single country. The documentation of different systematic groups of fungi is very heterogeneous because historically investigations have been sporadic. Recent opportunistic sampling activities in Benin showed that it is not difficult to find specimens representing new country records. Investigation of fungi in West Africa started just over two centuries ago and it is still in an early pioneer phase. To promote proper exploration, the present checklist is provided as a tool to facilitate fungal identification in this region and to aid conceptualisation and justification of future research projects. Documentation of fungal diversity is urgently needed because natural habitats are being lost on a large scale through altered land use and climate change.