Inocybe leucophaea Eyssart. & Buyck, 2022

Buyck, Bart, Eyssartier, Guillaume, Armada, François, Corrales, Adriana, Hembrom, Manoj Emanuel, Rossi, Walter, Bellanger, Jean-Michel, Das, Kanad, Dima, Bálint & Ghosh, Aniket, 2022, Fungal biodiversity profiles 111 - 120, Cryptogamie, Mycologie 20 (2), pp. 23-61 : 36

116. Inocybe leucophaea Eyssart. & Buyck , sp. nov.

( Figs 11 ; 12 )

DIAGNOSIS. — Differs from Inocybe subclavata in its larger spores with less prominent knobs, its distinctly thicker-walled cystidia and its association with trees from the African miombo woodland.

HOLOTYPE. — Zambia. Near Lusaka, gregarious, in strongly degraded miombo woodland, 08.II.1996, Eyssartier 96095 (holo-, P [ PC0088783 ]).

INDEX FUNGORUM. — IF558793.

GENBANK. — EU569860 (LSU), EU569859 (rpb 1).

ETYMOLOGY. — Named after the general colors of the basidiomata, from ancient greek leukos, “white”, and phaios, “dusky”.

DESCRIPTION

Pileus

Measuring (8)12-20(30) mm in diam., conical obtuse with inflexed margin or conico-campanulate, often with a broad umbo topped by another very small and obtuse one, sometimes totally absent, the young very pale by a white veil, sometimes greyish, then the margin becomes beige, slightly ochraceous but always pale, even in the young stages, soon fibrillose slightly rimose towards the margin, which is a little bit incised and paler by the veil.

Lamellae

Quite close, (1.5) 2-3 mm broad, emarginate, white in the young stages then ocraceous greyish, ocraceous beige, quite pale.

Stipe

35-60(65) × 3-4(6) mm, bulbous, marginate, whitish, pale beige to straw-yellow, pruinose.

Flesh

Pale, whitish.

Odor

Slightly honey-like.

Taste

Mild, slightly herbaceous.

Spores

Nodulose, with (6)7-8(9) obtuse swellings, (7)8-9(10.5)× (5)6- 7(8) µm, few spores quite larger, up to 12-14 × 8-9 µm (possibly from 2-spored basidia?).

Basidia

4-spored, clavate, (18)20-25 × 8-9 µm.

Paracystidia

Clavate, small, 15-20 × 8-9 (10) µm.

Cheilocystidia

Pyriform with a very obtuse base, or broadly lageniform, with very thickened walls, up to 4 (-4.5) µm, very slightly coloured in 10 % ammonia.

Pleurocystidia

Similar to cheilocystidia.

Pileipellis

A cutis of cylindrical hyphae, (3)5-7(10) µm broad, without clear pigment, very slightly incrusted.

Clamp connections

Present in all parts.

NOTES

Inocybe leucophaea sp. nov. was part of the multigene phylogenetic analyses published by Matheny et al. (2009) where it was part of a highly supported African clade together with two other species collected by us: I. glaucodisca Buyck & Eyssart. ( Buyck & Eyssartier 1999) for which the LSU sequence is 98.2% similar for 100 % coverage, while it was placed sister to I. densifolia nom. prov. (similarity 99 % for 100 % coverage). This African clade was placed sister with high support to a neotropical clade composed of I. antillana Pegler and I. xerophytica Pegler (see Pegler 1983). The phylogenetic analyses based on LSU sequences in Horak et al. (2015) still grouped with high support I. glaucodisca , I. densifolia nom. prov. and I. leucophaea sp. nov., but lacked support for the deeper nodes that suggested close affinities with other Inocybe from the African miombo woodlands such as I. conspicuospora Buyck & Eyssart or the still undescribed I. velatorimosa nom. prov. Inocybe subclavata (E. Horak) Garrido closely resembles Inocybe leucophaea sp. nov., particularly in general habit, colour and presence of an abundant veil, but differs in its marginate stipe, and the smaller spores with less numerous and more prominent knobs, its distinctly thinnerwalled cystidia and the association with Nothofagus in New Zealand ( Horak 2018).

Figures

FIG. 11. — Inocybe leucophaea Eyssart. & Buyck, sp. nov. Photo: B. Buyck.

FIG. 12. — Inocybe leucophaea Eyssart. & Buyck, sp. nov. (holotype): A, fruiting bodies; B, basidia; C, cystidia; D, marginal cells of the gill edge; E, spores; F, pileipellis in section (detail). Scale bars: A, 1 cm; B-E, 10 μm. Drawings by G. Eyssartier.