Squamanitaceae and Three New Species of Squamanita Parasitic on Amanita Basidiomes
Abstract The systematic position of the enigmatic genus Squamanita (Agaricales, Basidiomycota) is largely unknown. Together with Cystoderma and Phaeolepiota, they were categorized as belonging in the tribe Cystodermateae. In this study, with newly generated sequences of the type species of the genus Squamanita, namely S. schreieri, and sequences of a few species of Cystodermateae, the phylogeny of this “tribe” is reinvestigated with a concatenated (28S-5.8S-18S) dataset. Our study reveals that Squamanita and Phaeolepiota-Cystoderma are indeed sister groups with moderate statistic support (MLBS/PP = 80/1), and Squamanita is a monophyletic clade with highly statistic support (MLBS/PP = 92/1). The family name Squamanitaceae is resurrected and emended to accommodate the three genera. Meanwhile, another concatenated (ITS-28S-18S) dataset is used to investigate the phylogenetic relationship and species delimitation in Squamanita. Our data indicated that “S. umbonata” from North America, Europe, East Asia, and Central America harbors a complex of species, and species of Squamanita can parasitize species of Amanita, besides other fungal species. Squamanita mira parasitizes A. kitamagotake (A. sect. Caesareae), while S. orientalis and S. sororcula are parasites of species belonging to the A. sepiacea complex (A. sect. Validae). “Squamanita umbonata” from Italy occurs on A. excelsa (A. sect. Validae). Three new species of Squamanita from East Asia, viz. S. mira, S. orientalis and S. sororcula are documented with morphological, multi-genes phylogenetic, ecological data, line drawings, and photographs and compared with similar species.