Morphological and molecular evidence for a new species in Entoloma subgenus Claudopus from Sichuan Province, southwest China

Abstract

Entoloma alpinum, discovered on alpine grassland in Sichuan Province of southwest China, is described as new based on morphological and molecular evidence. It is characterized by the pale colored and finely fibrillose pileus, well developed but always slightly eccentric stipe, 2-spored basidia, large and versiform basidiospores, and absence of cheilocystidia and clamp connections. Preliminary molecular phylogeny of E. alpinum and related species was carried out based on the sequences of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and nuclear large subunit (nLSU) ribosomal RNA gene regions. Both morphological and molecular evidence confirmed that the new species is a member of Entoloma subgenus Claudopus.