Lentinula madagasikarensis sp. nov., a relative of shiitake mushrooms from Madagascar.

We describe the first species of Lentinula from Africa, Lentinula madagasikarensis sp. nov. The new taxon, which was collected from central Madagascar, is strikingly similar to L. edodes, the shiitake mushroom. A BLAST search using ITS sequences from L. madagasikarensis as the query retrieves a mix of Lentinula, Gymnopus, Marasmiellus, and other members of Omphalotaceae as the top hits. A 28S phylogeny of the Omphalotaceae confirms placement of L. madagasikarensis within Lentinula. An ITS phylogeny places L. madagasikarensis as the sister group of L. aciculospora, which is a neotropical species. Lentinula madagasikarensis is characterized by robust basidiomata with vinaceous pilei, prominent floccose scales near the pileus margin, florets of sphaeropedunculate cheilocystidia, and subcylindrical basidiospores. This report constitutes a 4 000-mile, trans-oceanic range extension for Lentinula.

Cantharellus texensis sp. nov. from Texas, a southern lookalike of C. cinnabarinus revealed by tef-1 sequence data.

This contribution to the genus Cantharellus in North America deals with the smaller, reddish pink species from the Gulf of Mexico states and eastern United States. C. texensis sp. nov. is presented as a new southern lookalike of C. cinnabarinus. The morphological species concepts are supported by newly generated molecular sequence data from the protein coding gene tef1. Similarities to C. persicinus, a third pinkish taxon, are discussed. The very different microscopic features for the three taxa are illustrated in detail. C. cinnabarinus is neotypified. C. minor forma intensissima is considered to be possibly unrelated not only to the discussed taxa in this paper but also to typical C. minor.

The last common ancestor of Sarcolaenaceae and Asian dipterocarp trees was ectomycorrhizal before the India-Madagascar separation, about 88 million years ago.

Phylogenetic studies comparing the Dipterocarpaceae and the Sarcolaenaceae, a tree family endemic to Madagascar, have shown that the Sarcolaenaceae share a common ancestor with Asian dipterocarps. This suggests that Asian dipterocarps drifted away from Madagascar with the India-Seychelles landmass and then dispersed through Asia. Although all dipterocarps examined so far have been found to be ectomycorrhizal, the ectomycorrhizal status of Sarcolaenaceae had not been investigated. Here we establish the ectomycorrhizal status of Sarcolaenaceae using histological and molecular methods. This indicates that the common ancestor of the Sarcolaenaceae and Asian dipterocarps was ectomycorrhizal, at least before the separation of the Madagascar-India landmass, 88 million years ago.