Phytotaxa 306 (3): 223–233
http://www.mapress.com/j/pt/
Copyright © 2017 Magnolia Press
Article
PHYTOTAXA
ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition)
ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition)
Accepted by Genevieve Gates: 18 Apr. 2017; published: 12 May 2017
https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.306.3.5
223
A new species and a new combination of Rhodophana (Entolomataceae,
Agaricales) from Africa
PABLO P. DANIËLS
1
, TIMOTHY J. BARONI
2
*, OUMAROU HAMA
3
, KERRI KLUTING
4
, SARAH BERGEMANN
5
,
FELIX INFANTE GARCÍA-PANTALEÓN
1
, MOUSSA BARAGE
6
& DAHIRATOU IBRAHIM
7
1
Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, University of Cordoba, Ed. Celestino Mutis, Campus Rabanales, Cordoba
14071, Spain.
2
Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York, College at Cortland, PO Box 2000, Cortland,New York 13045, USA.
3
Department of Plant Production and Irrigation, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Tahoua, Tahoua BP-255, Niger.
4
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
5
Biology Department, Middle Tennessee State University, PO Box 60, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37132, USA.
6
Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agronomy, University Abdou Moumouni, Niamey BP-10960, Niger.
7
Life Sciences and Earth Department, High School of Education, University Abdou Moumouni, Niamey BP-10963, Niger.
* Corresponding author: tim.baroni@cortland.edu
Abstract
Multiple collections of a new member of the Entolomataceae were found in W National Park of Niger during a survey of
macrofungi. This new species with a dark reddish brown scaly pileus surface and a yellow stipe belongs in the genus Rhodo-
phana of the Rhodocybe-Clitopilus clade in the Entolomataceae. Using a three-gene analysis of the phylogenetic position of
Rhodophana flavipes it is most closely related to the recently described Rhodophana squamulosa from India and is a sister
taxon to Rhodophana nitellina and R. melleopallens. Micromorphological examination of the type of Rhodocybe fibulata,
another African species with a scaly cap, confirms that it belongs in Rhodophana, thus a new combination Rhodophana
fibulata is proposed.
Key words: atp6, rpb2, tef1, molecular phylogeny
Introduction
The Entolomataceae Kotl. & Pouzar consists of two major clades, an Entoloma clade and a Rhodocybe-Clitopilus
clade (Co-David et al. 2009, Baroni et al. 2011, Baroni & Matheny 2011, Kluting et al. 2014) with the Rhodocybe-
Clitopilus clade containing fewer taxa globally (300 species in the Rhodocybe-Clitopilus clade vs. ca. 1200 species for
the Entoloma clade). Co-David et al. (2009) performed a phylogenetic analysis with a limited sample of representative
species and proposed the recognition of two genera (Entoloma Fr. ex P. Kumm. s.l. (1871:23) and Clitopilus (Fr.
ex Rabenh.) P. Kumm (1871:23)) in the Entolomataceae. The generic concepts proposed by Co-David et al. (2009)
were based on the conclusion that the morphological concepts used to recognize most of the segregate genera in the
Entoloma clade were unsupported and a similar situation existed in the Rhodocybe-Clitopilus clade. Baroni & Matheny
(2011) conducted a phylogenetic analysis of the Entolomataceae using an increased sample size with the same three
partial genes employed by Co-David et al. (2009) and demonstrated that four well-supported groups in the Rhodocybe-
Clitopilus clade exist. Kluting et al. (2014) expanded the sample size significantly for the Rhodocybe-Clitopilus clade
and analyzed three different partial protein-coding genes (atp6, tef1, and rpb2) resolving five, statistically supported
clades which can be recognized as distinct genera based on morphological characters: Rhodocybe Maire (1926:298) in
a redefined sense, Rhodophana Kühner (in Kühner & Lamoure 1971:23), Clitopilopsis Maire (1937:113), Clitopilus
(Fr.ex Rabenh.) P. Kumm. (1871:23), and a newly recognized genus Clitocella Kluting, T. J. Baroni & Bergemann
(2014:1135) that is a sister group to Clitopilus and Rhodocybe. We follow here the generic concepts proposed by
Kluting et al. (2014).
There are a limited number of publications describing species of the Rhodocybe-Clitopilus clade from Africa
(Baroni 1999, Beeli 1928, Daniëls et al. 2015, Malençon & Bertault 1970, 1975, Pegler 1977) and only 17 taxa of
Rhodocybe and/or Clitopilus have been documented in these works. We discuss here two taxa of Rhodophana now
known for Africa, one of which is a new species.