New insights into Lactifluus sect. Gerardii: A novel taxon from Meghalaya, India

Abstract

Extensive macrofungal forays to Pine (Pinus kesiya) dominated, temperate, mixed forests of East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya (India), yielded various wild mushrooms. Studies on these collections revealed an interesting and novel taxon of Lactifluus subg. Lactifluus (sect. Gerardii), which is proposed herein as Lactifluus khasianus sp. nov. The new species is presented with both morphological data and a two-gene phylogeny based on the internal transcribed spacer regions (nrITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA and the nuclear ribosomal large subunit (nrLSU). Lactifluus khasianus is characterized by the chocolate brown pileus, presence of pleuromacrocystidia, upright short terminal cells in the pileipellis and growth under Pinus. Phylogenetically, the species falls within a major clade with Lf. gerardii s.l. sequences from North America and Asia.