Advances in the phylogeny of the genus Tulostoma in Mexico, new records for the country, Jalisco and Zacatecas

Fungi of the genus Tulostoma are part of the diverse order Agaricales. These fungicomprise a monophyletic group characterized by globose-stipitate basidiomes, apowdery gleba, and a stipe with a volva or volvoid structure. Tulostoma is consideredcosmopolitan; however, little is known about its species diversity and phylogeneticrelationships in the Neotropics region. We used Tulostoma specimens from Mexico toassess the global diversity of the Tulostoma genus and the phylogenetic relationships ofNeotropical Tulostoma species. DNA sequences of two regions, the internal transcribedspacer region (ITS) and the 28S nuclear subunit (LSU), were used to construct aphylogenetic hypothesis and discuss the phylogenetic relationships with Paleotropicaland Paleartic Tulostoma species. A total of 224 sequences of Tulostoma were analyzed,including 16 new sequences from Mexican specimens and one from Spain. Thephylogenetic results, which considered both morphological traits and the ITS and LSUsequences, did not support the previous identification of most of the 16 Mexicanspecimens of Tulostoma, which was based on morphological traits. The phylogeneticanalysis validated a new report for Mexico Tulostoma rufum, and three new records ofTulostoma for western Mexico (Tulostoma fimbriatum, T. striatum and T. xerophilum)from paleotropics and palearctics present in the Neotropical region, wish shows thehigh diversity of the genus in this region that has been little studied. Our studycontributes to the knowledge of the Tulostoma genus, which includes speciesconsidered pseudocryptic due to their high morphological variability. Moreover, ourstudy emphasizes the need for molecular techniques to support taxa determination.