Badhamia crassipella, K. D. Whitney & H. W. Keller, Mycologia

Treviño-Zevallos, Italo, García-Cunchillos, Iván, Basanta, Diana Wrigley De & Lado, Carlos, 2023, Diversity of Myxomycetes from Peru Part III: The high Andes and the altiplano, Phytotaxa 624 (1), pp. 1-92 : 12

12. ºBadhamia crassipella K.D. Whitney & H.W. Keller, Mycologia 74(4): 620 (1982)

Specimens examined. PERU. Cajamarca: Cajamarca, Encañada, route PE-08B, km 220, 10 km east of Encañada towards Abra Gran Chimú , 3437 m, 7º03′14.0”S, 78º19′32.8”W, 14 Apr 2013, leaves and branches of Asteraceae, Lado 22559 (MA-Fungi 94902, USM) . Junin: Concepción, Chambara, route PE-24, km 251, 6 km west of Roncha , 3435 m, 11º59′54”S, 75º27′31”W, 28 Apr 2017, leaves of Puya ferruginea, Lado 25534 (MA-Fungi 96692). Huancayo, Pucara, route PE-3SC, km 7, 7 km from Pucara, Sapallanga, 3837 m, 12º13′03”S, 75º06′59”W, 26 Apr 2017, leaf litter and twigs, Lado 25352b (MA-Fungi 96514), leaf litter and bryophytes, Lado 25354 (MA-Fungi 96516). Huancayo, route 108, km 10, 8 km southwest of Acopalca , 3505 m, 12º00′18”S, 75º09′38”W, 27 Apr 2017, leaves of Puya sp. , Lado 25461 (MA-Fungi 96614), Lado 25463 (MA-Fungi 96616) . Pasco: Pasco, Huariaca, Batanchaca , route PE-3N, km. 163, 3053 m, 10º28′34”S, 76º10′49”W, 18 May 2018, leaf litter and woody debris, Lado 26945 (MA-Fungi 97697), leaf of Tillandsia sp. , Lado 26951 (MA-Fungi 97703) .

Notes. This species differs from others in the genus with clustered spores by a thick and triple-layered peridium with a smooth outer layer. The plamsodiocarpic sporophores predominate, and so it is similar to Physarum bogoriense Racib , but the clustered spores and the badhamioid capillitium reveal its ascription to Badhamia . The species was described from the U.S. A in California and Washington by Whitney & Keller (1982) and considered a rare species by Schnittler & Stephenson (2000). The specimens collected represent the first record for South America and the Neotropics. It has been found in the departments of Cajamarca, Junin and Pasco, inhabiting the leaf litter and woody remains of the high Andean scrub, the Puya stands, and the vegetation associated with crops.