Morchella vulgaris f. atrovelutipe s M. Snabl & U. Guidori

Snabl, Martin, Guidori, Urbano, Gianchino, Carmelo, Leonardi, Marco, Zambonelli, Alessandra & Iotti, Mirco, 2023, New insights on post-fire morels (Morchella spp.) in Italy, Phytotaxa 599 (5), pp. 280-290 : 284-286

Morchella vulgaris f. atrovelutipe s M. Snabl & U. Guidori forma nov. ( Fig. 3a‒d and 4 )

Mycobank MB#848727

Etymology:—from latin atro (= black), velutinus (= velvety) and pes (= stipe) for the velvety blackish stipe.

Holotype:— ITALY (north-western Adriatic coast). Ravenna: Lido di Dante , “Pineta Ramazzotti”, 2 m asl, 44.365 716 N and 12.321 652 E, 12 April 2013, AQUI _10400 (Herbarium Mycologicum Aquilanum)

Diagnosis:—Small sized ascoma with general appearance of the hymenophore typical of M. vulgaris ; the stipe is densely covered with hairs forming a tomentose - velvety layer, dark brown to blackish in color.

Original description:—Ascoma 60 mm high. Hymenophore 32 mm high, 30 mm wide at the widest point; irregularly ovoid, with a rounded-obtuse apex; pitted and ridged; ridges whitish to pale amber, with reddish-brown spots. Pits gray to gray-brown; irregularly shaped, deep, sometimes almost closed, opened on the stipe; short secondary ribs are also present. Stipe 25‒28 mm high; 10 mm wide; cylindrical; basally subclavate up to 15 mm wide; finely tomentose; black or dark brown. Context cartilagineous and weak; red-brown with whitish or blackish spots; 2‒3 mm thick. Sterile inner surface smooth or slightly tomentose; white in the hymenophore becoming reddish-brown in stipe. Smell fungal, slightly spermatic.

Asci 125‒200 × 11‒17.5 μm; cylindrical, rounded at the apex; thin-walled; hyaline, non-amyloid. Ascospores absent. Paraphyses 45‒75 μm in length, 7.5‒12.5 μm wide; clavate, apices rounded; hyaline, contents homogeneous; thin walled; one- biseptate at the base.Acroparaphyses 80‒100 μm in length, 12.5–18.8 μm wide at the apex; cylindrical, apices capitulated, sometime dilated at the base; hyaline, contents homogeneous; thin walled; septate. Hyphae on the outer surface of the stipe cylindrical, apices rounded, 44‒87 × 10‒20 μm; septate; thin-walled with dark pigment on the wall surface; contents hyaline or dark brown. Inner stipe surface covered by spherocytes, 15‒32 μm wide; thin-walled; contents hyaline or brown.

Ecology:—ascoma from a burnt pine forest on sandy soil, about 200 m from the seaside. Numerous ascomata of M. vulgaris and a few of M. esculenta without any tomentose appearance were found in the burnt site of Pineta Ramazzotti (data not shown).

Comments:—The specimen Mvu39 was completely immature (no spore within ascii) but due to its peculiar characters hitherto undescribed in the literature it is here typified as a new forma of M. vulgaris (Table S1).

M. vulgaris f. atrovelutipes differs from M. esculenta var. atrotomentosa described by Moser (1949) because it does not have long hairs on the sterile ridges but acroparaphyses (not described by Moser) very different in shape and size. However, the outer surface of the stem of both taxa has a velvety layer consisting of septate hyphae containing dark-brownish pigments.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Habitats and macro-morphology of M.vulgaris f. atrovelutipes (Mvu39) (a–d) and M. tomentosa (Mto1) (e–g). a, e: collection sites; b, f: ascoma; c, g: ascoma in section; d: detail of the stipe of M. vulgaris f. atrovelutipes.

FIGURE 4. Micro-morphology of M. vulgaris f. atrovelutipes (Mvu39). a: empty asci; b: paraphyses; c: acroparaphyses; d–e: hairs on outer stipe surface; f: spherocytes of the inner stipe surface. Bars = 40 µm.