Enlightening the black and white: species delimitation and UNITE species hypothesis testing in the .i.Russula albonigra./i. species complex

0545007 - GLÚ 2022 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
De Lange, R. - Adamčík, S. - Adamčíková, K. - Asselman, P. - Borovička, Jan - Delgat, L. - Verbeken, A.
Enlightening the black and white: species delimitation and UNITE species hypothesis testing in the Russula albonigra species complex.
IMA Fungus. Roč. 12, č. 1 (2021), č. článku 20. ISSN 2210-6340. E-ISSN 2210-6359
Institutional support: RVO:67985831
Keywords : Basidiomycota * Coalescent species delimitation * Ectomycorrhizal fungi * New species * Phylogeny * Russulaceae * Russulales * Russula subgen. Compactae * Integrative taxonomy * Typification * New taxa
OECD category: Mycology
Impact factor: 8.044, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Open access
https://imafungus.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s43008-021-00064-0

Russula albonigra is considered a well-known species, morphologically delimited by the context of the basidiomata blackening without intermediate reddening, and the menthol-cooling taste of the lamellae. It is supposed to have a broad ecological range and a large distribution area. A thorough molecular analysis based on four nuclear markers (ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TEF1-α) shows this traditional concept of R. albonigra s. lat. represents a species complex consisting of at least five European, three North American, and one Chinese species. Morphological study shows traditional characters used to delimit R. albonigra are not always reliable. Therefore, a new delimitation of the R. albonigra complex is proposed and a key to the described European species of R. subgen. Compactae is presented. A lectotype and an epitype are designated for R. albonigra and three new European species are described: R. ambusta, R. nigrifacta, and R. ustulata. Different thresholds of UNITE species hypotheses were tested against the taxonomic data. The distance threshold of 0.5% gives a perfect match to the phylogenetically defined species within the R. albonigra complex. Publicly available sequence data can contribute to species delimitation and increase our knowledge on ecology and distribution, but the pitfalls are short and low quality sequences.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0321787