Recent taxonomic discoveries suggest a host-symbiont co-migration of <i>Russula</i> subsect. <i>Castanopsidum</i> with <i>Fagaceae</i> in the Americas
Three members of ectomycorrhizal fungi belonging to <i>Russula</i> subsection <i>Castanopsidum</i> are described from neotropical montane forests dominated by species of <i>Fagaceae</i> in Panama and Colombia. <i>Russula esperanzae sp. nov</i>. from Colombia differs in the field from other members of the subsection by slender longitudinally striated red stipes as well as characteristics of spores and basidia. <i>Russula atroamethystina</i> subsp. <i>atroamethystina</i>, originally described from Costa Rica, is reported for the first time from Panama. Closely related and morphologically similar Colombian collections are described as <i>R. atroamethystina</i> subsp. <i>guacahayoensis subsp. nov</i>. and differ from the typical subspecies by longer hymenial cystidia as well as molecular sequence data. The distribution of this newly described subspecies is restricted to <i>Fagaceae</i> forests east of the Isthmus of Panama. This suggests an allopatric diversification, likely driven by the absence of <i>Fagaceae</i> in the tropical lowland forest of the Darién Gap. <i>Russula esperanzae</i> is exclusively associated with <i>Trigonobalanus excelsa</i>, a tree species of <i>Fagaceae</i> endemic to Colombia. The role of its association with this tree in the evolutionary history of the species is discussed. Based on molecular timing, species of the subsection <i>Castanopsidum</i> started to evolve approximately 15.1 M years ago (mya) and display an amphi-pacific disjunct distribution with an Asian clade that split from the American clade around 11 mya. <b>Citation:</b> Manz C, Ortiz-Suárez A, Adamčíková K, Looney B, Noffsinger CR, Caboň M, Hampe F, Piepenbring M, Hofmann T, Buyck B, Parra-Aldana CA, Adamčík S, Corrales A (2025). Recent taxonomic discoveries suggest a host-symbiont co-migration of <i>Russula</i> subsect. <i>Castanopsidum</i> with <i>Fagaceae</i> in the Americas. <i>Fungal Systematics and Evolution</i> <b>16</b>: 181-195. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2025.16.10.
Authors
- Felix Hampe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7642-7930)
- Bart Buyck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6824-5280)
- Miroslav Caboň (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2255-3816)
- Brian P. Looney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5342-9909)
- Chance Noffsinger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9658-4572)
- Cathrin Manz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0515-0334)
- Meike Piepenbring (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7043-5769)
- Katarína Adamčíková (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5407-5233)
- Alejandro Corrales
- Slavomír Adamčík (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2156-5767)
- T. Hofmann
- C.A. Parra-Aldana
- A. Ortiz-Suárez
Institutions
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (PA)
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- London Rebuilding Society (GB)
- Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- Institute of Botany of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (FR)
- Japan Society (US)
- Comenius University Bratislava (SK)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- University of Missouri (US)
- Universidad del Rosario (CO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Fungal Systematics and Evolution
- Published
- 2025-07-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2025.16.10
- Primary Topic
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00