Fungal DNA barcode (ITS nrDNA) reveals more diversity than expected in Tulostoma from Macedonia

Abstract

With the aim of clarifying the number of Tulostoma species in Macedonia, and to verify some previous collections, molecularanalyses were carried out on four morphologically identified species collected in different habitats (at the edges of oak or juniper forests,pine plantations, meadows, rocky places, roadsides). Sixty-two new sequences were generated and compared with recently publishedsequences included in public databases. According to the barcoding sequences fourteen Tulostoma species are identified in Macedoniaand ten of them were assigned to known species: Tulostoma brumale, T. fimbriatum, T. lusitanicum, T. cf. moravecii, T. melanocyclum,T. punctatum, T. simulans, T. squamosum, T. subsquamosum, and T. winterhoffii. However, four of them remain as Tulostoma sp. 1, 2, 3,and 4, since more collections should be found and analyzed before giving them a specific name.