Helvella taiyuanensis B. Liu, Du & J.Z. Cao, Acta Mycol. Sin. 4(4): 211, 1985

Wang, Xin-Cun, Liu, Tie-Zhi, Chen, Shuang-Lin, Li, Yi & Zhuang, Wen-Ying, 2019, A four-locus phylogeny of rib-stiped cupulate species of Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizales) with discovery of three new species, MycoKeys 60, pp. 45-67 : 45

Helvella taiyuanensis B. Liu, Du & J.Z. Cao, Acta Mycol. Sin. 4(4): 211, 1985 Figure 4

Neotype is designated here.

CHINA. Shanxi Province, Lvliang City, Jiaocheng County, Guandishan National Forest Park, 37°54'25"N, 111°35'40"E, on the ground in mixed forest, 16 Jul 1987, Y.M. Li, HMAS 85689 (= MHSU 758).

Additional specimens examined.

CHINA. Beijing City, Mentougou District, Xiaolongmen National Forest Park, 39°58'2"N, 115°26'43"E, alt. 1100 m, on the ground in mixed forest, 4 Aug 2018, X.C. Wang et al. 11925, HMAS 254611. Hubei Province, Yichang City, Xingshan County, Longmenhe National Forest Park, 31°21'12"N, 110°30'40"E, on the ground, 23 Jul 2017, R. Wang & X. Zhang 420526MF0679, MCCNNU 6499, HMAS 279702. Yunnan Province, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Dêqên County, Yunling Town, Meili Snow Mountain, 28°23'23"N, 98°47'49"E, alt. 3150 m, on the ground, 12 Aug 2016, Y. Li 920, HMAS 277500.

Notes.

This species was originally described, based on a single specimen collected by Y.M. Li from Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province in 1983 (Holotype: HBSU 2449, Liu et al. 1985). Unfortunately, the type specimen was destroyed by a fire in MHSU in 1984 ( Cao 1988, Cao et al. 1990). To protect fungal collections after the fire, the remaining specimens, deposited in MHSU, were moved to HMAS. The neotype specimen HMAS 85689 was collected by the same collector as the type specimen of H. taiyuanensis and identified by one of the original authors J.Z. Cao ( Cao 1988). Its detailed morphological characteristics are in accordance with the original description. We thus treat it as authentic material. As other specimens were neither cited in the protologue nor filed under this name, we thus designate HMAS 85689 as the neotype specimen of H. taiyuanensis .

Helvella taiyuanensis was once treated as a synonym of H. solitaria sensu Dissing (1966), based on morphological features ( Cao 1988), but the molecular differences between them are clear in the multigene analysis ( Figure 1 ). It should be a tenable species. The four specimens of the fungus examined are variable in colour of the hymenium and receptacle surface when dry or fresh, but stable in cupulate to saddle-shaped apothecia ( Figure 4 ). Phylogenetic analyses indicate that they belong to the same species ( Figures 1 , 2 and Suppl. material 1: S1-S4) although minor sequence divergences exist amongst collections. The maximum sequence divergences amongst collections are 1 bp in Hsp90, 6 bp in ITS2, 3 bp in LSU and 7 bp in TEF1.

Figures

Figure 1. Bayesian phylogenetic tree of Helvella and Dissingia inferred from combined Hsp 90, ITS 2, LSU and TEF 1 dataset. Posterior probability values ≥ 0.90 (left) and bootstrap values ≥ 70 % (right) are indicated at nodes.

Figure 2. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of Helvellaceae inferred from combined LSU and TEF 1 dataset. Bootstrap values ≥ 50 % are indicated at nodes.

Figure 4. Helvella taiyuanensis a specimen sheet (HMAS 85689) b mature apothecia when dry (HMAS 85689) c mature apothecia when fresh (HMAS 254611) d mature apothecia when fresh (HMAS 277500) e mature apothecium when fresh (HMAS 279702) f-h ascospores in ascus (f, g: HMAS 85689, h: HMAS 254611). Scale bars: 0.8 cm (b, d); 2 cm (c); 20 μm (f), applies to g, h.