Typhula maritima, a novel fungus identified in the coastal dunes of Honshu, Central Japan

Abstract

Typhula maritima, a maritime basidiomycete fungus newly identified in Honshu, Central Japan, is reported herein, along with a description and illustration of its morphological characteristics. The fungus was collected from an area near the communities of Ischaemum anthephoroides and Imperata cylindrica on the coastal dunes of Niigata, Toyama, and Ishikawa Prefectures. Maximum parsimony analysis of the nuclear rDNA ITS region revealed that the T. maritima samples collected from Honshu and Hokkaido belong to the same well-supported clade. These results support the idea that floating sclerotia of T. maritima are dispersed over long distances by ocean currents.