Calvatia guzmanii C.R. Alves & Cortez, 2013

Alves, Camila R. & Cortez, Vagner G., 2013, Calvatia guzmanii sp. nov. (Agaricaceae, Basidiomycota) from Paraná State, Brazil, Phytotaxa 85 (2), pp. 35-40 : 36-39

Calvatia guzmanii C.R. Alves & Cortez , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 – 2 )

MycoBank MB801842

Diagnosis: —Basidiomata 15–55 mm in height, 13–60 mm in diam., solitary or in pairs on forest litter or very rotten wood; exoperidium velvety to spiny, dark brown; basidiospores 4.3–5.3 µm in diam., globose to subglobose, echinulate-reticulate, pedicel <1 µm long.

Holotype: — BRAZIL. Paraná State: Palotina , PESC, 16 February 2011, V. G. Cortez 18-43 ( UPCB).

Etymology: —The name of the species is dedicated to Prof. Gastón Guzmán (Instituto de Ecología, México), in honor of his contributions to Neotropical Mycology and on the occasion of his 80 th birthday.

Basidiomata 15–55 mm in height, 13–60 mm in diam., subglobose to pyriform. Exoperidium spiny, composed of short and thin spines, densely grouped, texture velutinous; in mature specimens the exoperidium becomes distinctly spiny, the spines with broad bases and acute and connivent tips; yellowish brown (5D7) to brown (6E5) at the top of the basidioma, yellowish grey (4B2) at the base; at maturity, the spines become aggregated as small groups, falling away with fragments of endoperidium to expose the gleba. Exoperidial hyphae of variable shape, mainly subglobose to globose, but also elongated or irregular, 14.2–43 × 10.2–31.5 µm, hyaline to pale brown, wall thin (<1µm diam.). Endoperidium smooth, papery, grayish yellow (3C3) to yellowish brown (5D5), disappearing together with exoperidium. Sterile base slightly rooting, 8–20 mm in height, yellowish brown (5D6), smooth to granulose. Rhizomorphs present, white, thin (<1 mm) and short, sparsely branched. Gleba spongy to compact, yellowish white (1A2) when young, becoming cottony, light brown (5D5) to yellowish brown (5E8) with maturity, reaching 1/3 (rarely 1/2) of basidioma height. Subgleba cellular, mostly occupying up to 2/3 of basidioma size (sometimes about 1/2 of total height), yellowish white (1A2) when immature, and then grayish yellow (4C4) to dull yellow (3B3) in older specimens. Basidiospores 4.2–5.3 µm in diam. with ornamentation, 3.3–4.3 µm without, mostly globose, occasionally subglobose, pale greenish; under SEM ornamentations visible as short and sharp spines 0.7–1 µm long, connected by thin filaments, forming a delicate reticulation over the spore surface; pedicels short 0.5–0.7 µm long. Basidia 9.2–13.7 × 6.5–9 µm, shortly pedunculate to clavate, hyaline, tetrasporic. Eucapillitium 2–4 µm in diam., brownish with clearer walls, pores abundant, 1.4–4.5 µm in diam.

Additional specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Paraná: Palotina, PESC, 10 December 2010, V . G. Cortez 15-39 ( HCP 218 ); 18 February 2011, V . G. Cortez 18-30 ( HCP 219 ); 02 March 2011, V . G. Cortez 19-31 ( HCP 223 ), 19-32 ( HCP 222 ); 03 April 2012 , C.R. Alves 22 ( HCP 224 ), 23 ( HCP 225 ); 17 April 2012 , C.R. Alves 25 ( HCP 226 ); 18 April 2012, V . G. Cortez & C. R . Alves 38 ( HCP 227 ); 18 May 2012, V . G. Cortez & C. R . Alves 44 ( HCP 228 ) .

Distribution: —Only known from type locality, western Paraná State, Brazil.

Phenology: —Fruiting from December to April.

Comments: — Calvatia guzmanii is a forest species found mainly on litter, but also on very rotten wood in forest, in shady places. It is a common species in the study area, where it has been gathered several times. The studied specimens comprised basidiomata of various developmental stages, including immature, fully developed and fully dehisced individuals ( Fig. 1 ). In most of the studied specimens, the gleba occupied not more than 1/3 of the basidioma height, while the subgleba reached about 2/3 of the height; rarely the gleba and subgleba reached about 1/2 of the basidioma height. The exoperidial structure is a distinct feature of C. guzmanii : it is dark brown and composed of short and acute spines with connivent tips and wider at bases.

Calvatia lachnoderma Patouillard (1907: 366) from Brazil also has a dark brown exoperidium, but has a much reduced subgleba, and the basidiospores are larger (5–6 µm diam.) and more densely ornamented. It is only known from the holotype, which was recently revised by Cortez & Alves (2012).

Other morphologically similar taxa with dark brownish exoperidia are Calvatia umbrina Lloyd (1902: 2 , nom inval.) from USA, C. boninensis Ito & Imai (1939: 9) from Asia, C. owyheensis A.H. Sm. in Zeller & Smith (1964: 160) and C. ochrogleba Zeller (1947: 302) also from the USA, and C. subtomentosa Dissing & Lange (1962: 357) from Africa, which are discussed as follows.

Calvatia umbrina , a dark brown species reported by Zeller & Smith (1964) was renamed as Bovista cacao by Ponce de León (1975), however since no Latin diagnosis was provided by this author, it should be considered as nom. nud. and further study of the holotype is required for verification ( Coetzee & van Wyk 2012). The Indonesian C. boninensis has a dark-brownish exoperidium but cylindrical to elliptical basidiospores which are noteworthy in the genus ( Kasuya & Retnowati 2006). Calvatia owyheensis belongs to Calvatia Sect. Cretacea Kreisel (1992: 438) , and has a verrucose to polygonal warty exoperidium as well as a compact to reduced subgleba ( Zeller & Smith 1964). Because of the brownish peridium, C. ochrogleba is also similar, but its peridium is smooth to areolate, it has larger (5.5–7.7 µm) subglobose basidiospores, and grows in pastures of Oregon ( Zeller & Smith 1964). Calvatia subtomentosa has smaller (3.6–4.4 µm) basidiospores, the exoperidium is pale ochraceous and slightly velvety (not spiny) and the sterile base is white ( Dissing & Lange 1963). The latter two species were placed by Kreisel (1992, 1994) in Calvatia Sect. Calvatia , where C. guzmanii might also belong because of the pitted eucapillitium, spiny to velutinous exoperidium and basidiospores echinulate to echinate, although the spiny exoperidium is more typical for Calvatia Sect. Cretacea , which comprises arctic and alpine species ( Kreisel 1994). However, a revision of infra-generic classification of Calvatia on a worldwide basis, including molecular phylogenetic analysis, is required.

Meijer (2006) reported the following Calvatia species from the State of Paraná: C. cyathiformis ( Bosc 1811: 87) Morgan (1890: 168) and C. rugosa (Berkeley & Curtis in Berkeley 1868: 345) Reid (1977: 671). Calvatia cyathiformis is a larger puffball (<20 cm height), has a purple gleba, large spongy subgleba and larger (6–8.5 µm) echinate basidiospores (Cortez et al. 2012). Calvatia rugosa shares similar basidiospores and eucapillitium, but has an areolate to subvelutinous orange exoperidium, composed of subglobose hyphae, not arranged in fascicles, and orange yellow pigment produced in the immature basidiomata ( Reid et al. 1977). Silveira (1943) also listed C. saccata ( Vahl 1794: 1139) Morgan (1890: 171) from Paraná, which was recently considered as Lycoperdon excipuliformis ( Scopoli 1772: 488) Persoon (1801: 143) and differs in the nature of eucapillitium, with slit-like pits ( Kreisel 1989). Wright & Wright (2005), in a survey of the macrofungi from the Iguazú National Park ( Argentina), which comprises the same vegetation type present at PESC, reported only C. pyriformis ( Léveille 1846: 164) Kreisel (1992: 433) , which is also different from C. guzmanii due to its smooth to pinkish exoperidium, as well as subglobose to elliptical basidiospores ( Kreisel 1994).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Calvatia guzmanii: A. Immature basidiomata. B. Mature basidioma. C. Fully ripened basidioma. Photos: A and C by V. G. Cortez and B by C. Andrigheto.

FIGURE 2. Calvatia guzmanii: A. Exoperidial spine. B, C. Hyphae of the spines. D. Basidia. E. Eucapillitium and basidiospores. F–H. Basidiospores under light (F) and scanning electron (G, H) microscopy. Photos: C.R. Alves.