Lagarobasidium calongei ( Aphyllophorales , Basidiomycota ) , a new species of corticioid fungi from Azores Islands by

Dueñas, M. Telleria, M.T., Melo, I. & Martín, M.P. 2009. Lagaro basidium calongei (Aphyllophorales, Basidiomycota), a new species of corticioid fungi from Azores Islands. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 66S1: 41-46. On the base of morphologic and molecular studies, a new species of the genus Lagarobasidium (Aphyllophorales, Basi diomycota), is described and illustrated. This new species was collected on Pico Island (Azores) and is characterized by having two types of cystidia, clavate leptocystidia and cylindrical skeletocystidia, and smooth, thick-walled spores. It is compared with Lagarobasidium detriticum (Bourdot) Jülich and L. cymosum (D.P. Rogers & H.S. Jacks.) Jülich, until now the only two species

Later, Jülich (1979) transferred H. detriticum to the genus Lagarobasidium, L. detriticum (Bourdot) Jülich, due to its striking microscopic characteristics, clavate cystidia and thick-walled cyanophilous spores.The species described here was collected from one locality in Pico Island (Azores archipelago) and shows close affinity to L. detriticum, although differing in that it has two types of cystidia.
There are different opinions about the taxonomic position of L. detriticum -Langer (1994), for instance, included it in Hyphodontia-but the molecular analysis of samples deposited in MA herbarium shows that it belongs to a genus different from Hyphodontia and Hypochnicium.

Materials and methods
The sample under study was collected on Pico Island, during a mycological foray to the islands from the central group of Azores archipelago at the end of the winter of 2005, on a Laurus azorica (Seub.)Franco remnant plot, accompanied by Erica azorica Hochst.ex Seub., Myrica faya Aiton, Picconia azorica (Tutin) Knobl., Pittosporum undulatum Vent, Dryopteris crispifolia H. Rasbach & al., Dryopteris affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenkins, Hedera azorica Hort.and Rubia agostinhoi Dansereau & P. Silva.The material was deposited in the herbarium MA under MA-Fungi 73256.The initials Tell.correspond to M.T. Telleria.
Collections of Lagarobasidium detriticum located at the MA herbarium (MA-Fungi 5758, MA-Fungi 61397 and MA-Fungi 61402) were included for comparison.
All material was studied following classical methods for the corticioid fungi: thin, freehand sections from the specimen were mounted in KOH (5%) and/or Melzer's reagent.These sections were examined under an Olympus BH50 microscope.Line drawings and microphotographs were made with a Leyca DM 2500 microscope with camera lucida, by M. Dueñas.
Sequencher (Gene Codes Corporation, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) was used to identify the consensus sequence from the two strands of the ITS nrDNA of each isolate.Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) with option Standard nucleotide BLAST of BLASTN 2.2.18 were used to compare the sequence obtained against the sequences in the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nucleotide databases (Altschul & al., 1997).The new consensus sequences have been deposited in the EMLB database.SEQAPP software for multiple sequences was used to compare the sequences obtained in this study.
Based on morphological and molecular data a new species is proposed: Basidiome resupinate, effused, hypochnoid, very thin at first, white to white-yellowish; hymenophore when young smooth, with age colliculose to grandinioid; margin not especially differentiated.
Molecular analysis: ITS nrDNA sequences were obtained from a single L. detriticum collection (MA-Fungi 5758) and L. calongei (MA-Fungi 73256).The new sequences have been logged in the EMBL database with the Accession Numbers FM876211 and FM876212, respectively.The alignment between these sequences is shown in Fig. 3.The ITS1 region has at least 68 different bases, of which 42 are due to insertions, 11 to transitions (indicated with !,    3) and 12 to transversions (indicated with ?, Fig. 3).In the ITS2 124 bases are different, of which 86 are due to 17 to transitions and 19 to transversions.
The BLAST search did not give significant results.Neither was the sequence DQ677507 (part 5.8S nrD-NA, complete ITS2 and part LSU nrDNA), located at the EMBL database under Hypochnicium detriticum, related to the sequences obtained in this study.This sequence was included in two papers (Larsson, 2007a, b) where the phylogenetic analyses show that it was closely related to Hyphodontia quercina, not to Hypochnicium species as expected from morphological characters.

Discussion
The inclusion of this species in Lagarobasidium is justified by its monomitic hyphal structure, presence of characteristic cystidia and ellipsoid, thickwalled, guttulate, non-amyloid spores.It is very close to L. detriticum, though it differs in having two types of cystidia, leptocystidia and skeletocystidia, and larger spores; the former species has spores 4.5-5.5(6)× 4-4.5 µm.The other species in the genus, L. cymosum, is separated from the new species by its subulate cystidia and subglobose spores.Skeletocystidia have also been described in some species of Hypochnicium, such as H. bicystidiatum Boidin & Gilles  (Boidin & Gilles 2000), but the molecular analyses demonstrate that Lagarobasidium calongei is close L. detriticum, not a species the genus Hypochnicium.
TO LAGAROBASIDIUM SPECIES

Fig.
Fig.3) and 12 to transversions (indicated with ?, Fig.3).In the ITS2 124 bases are different, of which 86 are due to 17 to transitions and 19 to transversions.The BLAST search did not give significant results.Neither was the sequence DQ677507 (part 5.8S nrD-NA, complete ITS2 and part LSU nrDNA), located at the EMBL database under Hypochnicium detriticum, related to the sequences obtained in this study.This sequence was included in two papers(Larsson, 2007a, b)  where the phylogenetic analyses show that it was closely related to Hyphodontia quercina, not to Hypochnicium species as expected from morphological characters.