New Species and New Record of Cortinariaceae (Cortinarius, Phlegmacium) from Pakistan

The study aims to offer fresh perspectives on the variety of family Cortinariaceae found during monsoon 2022. Many basidiomata were belonging to this collected from the pine dominated forest in Utror Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the ITS sequence of an undescribed species of family Cortinariaceae belonging to the Phlegmacium clade and morpho-anatomical characteristics revealed a novel species, P. swaticum, which produces ovoid, wrinkled, light-brown basidiospores with an average size of 12.9 × 7.5 μm. The sister species of the novel taxon P. fraudulosum described from Germany is different from the Pakistani taxon in that it has a different self-clade in the phylogenetic tree. Cortinarius subcroceofolius was also identified following the same protocol, in addition to the Cortinariaceae taxa in Pakistan.