Wednesday, May 20, 2015

[Fungi • 2015] Auricularia thailandica • A widely distributed Species (Auriculariaceae, Auriculariales) from Southeastern Asia


เห็ดหูหนู  Auricularia thailandica Bandara & K.D. Hyde
Figure 2. Auricularia thailandica (MFLU 130410, holotype).
a. Basidiocarps. b. Cross-section of the fruitbody. c. Abhymenial hairs. d. Close-up of hymenial layer. e–k. Basidiospores. l. Clamp-connection of a hypha.
Scale bars: b=500 μm, c=50 μm, d=25 μm, e–l =5 μm. (Photos by Asanka R. Bandara).
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.208.2.3

Abstract

Auricularia is an important genus among the jelly fungi due to its popular consumption and medicinal properties. A new species of Auricularia, A. thailandica is described from fresh collections made from the Philippines, Thailand and Southern China based on morphological and molecular characters. Auricularia thailandica differs from other species by having short and loosely arranged abhymenial hairs on the basidiomata and in the different size of the zones in a cross section of the basidiomata. The species is found to be widely distributed in Southeastern Asia. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred based on the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The new species is introduced with full description and illustrations.

Keywords: Jelly fungi, morphology, phylogeny, taxonomy, Thailand, Fungi



Taxonomy

Auricularia thailandica Bandara & K.D. Hyde, sp. nov. (Fig. 2) 
Index Fungorum Number: IF550992, Facesoffungi number: FoF 00467.
Type:— THAILAND. Chiang Mai: Bahn Pa Dheng, Mushroom Research Center, dead wood, 14 August 2013, S.C. Karunarathne K2013117 (MFLU 130410, holotype).

Etymology:— The species epithet “thailandica” refers to the country from where the holotype was collected.

Basidiome:— 2–5 cm diam., short stalks, orbicular to cupulate to auriculiform, semi-transparent, brownish orange, 5C5, ridges and veins seen on abhymenial surface, individual hairs clearly distinguishable, hairs not dense, margins darker brown, 6E8.
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Note:— A. thailandica can be distinguished from other species of Auricularia that have short and loosely arranged abhymenial hairs of the basidiomata. Among the species which have a medulla, the size of the zona pilosa of A. thailandica is similar to A. fibrillifera, A. fuscosuccinea, A. minor, A. scissa and A. subglabra (Table 2). The abhymenial hairs of A. fuscosuccinea and A. scissa are gregarious and tufted (Looney et al., 2013). Although A. minor is characterized by short abhymenial hairs the basidiomata are smaller (less than 2 cm) (Malysheva & Bulakh, 2014) than A. thailandica. A. fibrillifera is distinct from A. thailandica in having thick-walled, acute, free or partly fasciculate hairs and thinner zones (Kobayashi, 1981). A. subglabra has solitary, infrequent hairs (Looney et al., 2013). A. subglabra is distinguished from A. thailandica by the lack of abhymenial hairs, with only a few short hairs present at irregular intervals throughout the zona pilosa.


Asanka R. Bandara, Jie Chen, Samantha Karunarathna, Kevin D. Hyde and Pattana Kakumya. 2015. Auricularia thailandica sp. nov. (Auriculariaceae, Auriculariales) A widely distributed Species from Southeastern Asia. Phytotaxa. 208(2): 147–156. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.208.2.3