Neotropical Clavulina: Two new species from Mexico and a re-evaluation of Clavulina floridana.

Clavulina comprises ca. 90 described species distributed worldwide in both tropical and temperate regions. However, only one species (C. floridana) has been described so far from tropical North America. We used morphological and molecular data from three DNA loci (nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 [ITS], a portion of nuc 28S rDNA [28S], and a fragment of DNA-directed RNA polymerase II second largest subunit [RPB2]) from basidiomata and ectomycorrhizas collected in tropical ecosystems from three biogeographic provinces of Mexico and one tropical province in the USA to investigate the phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity of Clavulina in the region. Nine new species-level clades were discovered, two of which are proposed as new species (C. arboreiparva and C. tuxtlasana). Specimens of C. floridana recently collected in Florida were included in our analyses, for which a modern description is provided. In addition, C. floridana is a new record for Mexico. The diversity of Clavulina in tropical North America is comparable to that found in lowland tropical South America. However, some of the species found in tropical deciduous forests produce small, rare, and inconspicuous basidiomata, which easily go unnoticed, and therefore are poorly represented in collections. Many species remain undescribed in tropical regions of North America.

Caryophyllales are the main hosts of a unique set of ectomycorrhizal fungi in a Neotropical dry forest.

The ectomycorrhizal symbiosis was long thought to be restricted to temperate forests. However, as tropical forests have been explored, it has become clear that these habitats host unique ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. We have been exploring tropical dry forests (TDF), which are endangered terrestrial ecosystems and hotspots of endemism. Since Fabaceae is the main plant family in this environment, we hypothesized that trees in this lineage would be the main ECM hosts. We sequenced the ITS rDNA region from fungi and both rbcL and trnL cpDNA from plants to identify both symbiotic partners from root tips. The systematic position of each symbiont was confirmed by Bayesian phylogenetic inference. We identified 20 plant species belonging to 10 families that hosted 19 unique ECM fungal species from 5 lineages. Most ECM fungi were associated with Caryophyllales, not with Fabaceae. Achatocarpus and Guapira, the main hosts, are scattered throughout the forest and are not in monodominant patches. The low ECM fungal diversity can be explained by the low density of host plants and their high specificity. Our results indicate that Caryophyllales is an important order of tropical ECM hosts with at least four independent evolutionary lineages that have evolved the ability to form ectomycorrhizae.

Thelephora versatilis and Thelephora pseudoversatilis: two new cryptic species with polymorphic basidiomes inhabiting tropical deciduous and sub-perennial forests of the Mexican Pacific coast.

Thelephora is a genus of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes with basidiomes of varied shape which has been poorly studied in tropical ecosystems. In this paper, we present Thelephora versatilis and Thelephora pseudoversatilis, two new species collected in the same localities of deciduous and sub-perennial tropical forests of Jalisco, Mexico. Basidiomes of both species are brownish gray to violet brown with clavarioid-mesopodal, sub-resupinate or completely resupinate growth forms. In turn, phylogenetic analyses using nrDNA ITS sequences showed that these species are not closed related, nevertheless they are part of a well-supported clade conformed by several species of Thelephora, Tomentella and some undescribed Thelephorales. Morphological segregation of these species was attained by analyzing spore and hyphae characters using a wide sample. Significant statistical differences between the new species were observed regarding spore size, spine size and context hyphae width. This work exemplifies the relevance of integrating both morphological and molecular data, as well of the use of an appropriate sample size in order to discriminate among morphological cryptic species.