Taxonomic Status of Two Morphologically Similar Mushroom Species: Neoalbatrellus odorus Yuan Y.Chen & B.K.Cui and N. yasudae (Lloyd) Audet

Abstract

The two morphologically similar species of mushrooms, i.e., Neoalbatrellus yasudae (Lloyd) Audet from Japan and N. odorus Yuan Y.Chen & B.K.Cui from China were extensively compared based on macromorphological characters and molecular data. The results clearly indicated that some key morphological characters, such as cap color and pore sizes, cannot reliably separate the Japanese and Chinese materials. Phylogenetic trees based on the ITS and nuclear large subunit of ribosomal DNA sequences also indicated that these two species should be considered a single species. We therefore propose that N. odorus is a later synonym of N. yasudae, and an emended description of macroscopic characters of the species is provided.