Oral Paper

         Mycology & Phycology

Morphological and molecular evidences revealed new species of Mallocybe (Agaricales, Inocybaceae) from Himalayan forests of Pakistan.

Presenting Author
malka saba
Description
The Inocybaceae is a monophyletic family encompassing ectomycorrhizal fungi with worldwide distribution and is estimated to contain 1050 species. Mallocybe belonging to Inocybaceaea was given the status of genus in 2020 by Matheny and co-authors. Macroscopically, Mallocybe species are recognized by a fibrous or scaly often flattened pileus, a short stipe, ocher, brown, or red brown coloration, a cortina, adnate lamellae and absence of a spermatic odor. Microscopically, distinctive characters of this genus include; smooth spores, absence of pleurocystidia, thin-walled without crystals cheilocystidia and necropigment in basidia of fresh and dried specimens. The genus is monophyletic and about 58 species of Mallocybe have been recorded in Index Fungorum  (www.indexfungorum.org) from different regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and North America. However, only two species of this genus are yet known from Pakistan. During the exploration of ectomycorrhizal fungi of Pakistan, we have encountered eight different collections of Mallocybe which have been described using morphological and molecular analysis. Morphological analysis was performed using an Olympus Bx40 light microscope with Olympus XC50 digital camera and Microsuite special edition software 3.1. Phylogenetic analyses based on sequence data from two different loci (ITS and LSU) using maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony methods was performed to infer species relationships within Mallocybe. Results indicated that these eight collections encompass three new species of Mallocybe i.e. M. ahmadii, M. pakistanica and M. pinicola, from Pakistan. Their detailed morphological descriptions and illustration are  provided. In addition, comparison with morphologically closely related taxa is also discussed. A key to the described taxa of Mallocybe from Pakistan is also provided.