Lepiota brunneophora J. F. Liang & X. Li 2025, sp. nov.

Lepiota brunneophora J. F. Liang & X. Li, sp. nov. Fig. 2 Holotype. China • Yunnan: Lijiang City, Jinshan Town, Tuanshan Reservoir, ca. 2500 m a. s. l., 18 July 2008, Liang 931 (RITF 548). Etymology. ‘ brunneophora’ refers to the brown color of the stipe. Diagnosis. Lepiota brunneophora is characterized by reddish-brown to purplish-brown stipe covering whitish floccose squamules, penguin-shaped basidiospores with papilliform apex when shrinking, broadly clavate cheilocystidia, and a pileus covering with a layer of short elements. Description. Basidiomata small to medium (Fig. 2 A). Pileus 2.3–6.0 cm in diam, plano-convex or applanate with blunt umbo in the center, surface dry, white to cream, with yellowish-brown (6 D 5–6 D 6) to brown squamules, tearing from the center to the periphery into rings, accompanied by growth, margin upturned and striate, fragile and easily breaking off. Context whitish, thin. Lamellae L = 40–60, l = 1–2, free, whitish, moderately crowded, length unequal. Stipe 2.5–8.0 × 0.4–0.6 cm, cylindrical, hollow, thickening towards the base, reddish-brown to purplish-brown (6 D 6–6 D 7), covered with whitish and floccose squamules, yellowish-brown (6 D 5–6 D 6) squamules at the base. Annulus whitish, membranous, evanescent. Odor not distinct. Taste not recorded. Spore print white. Basidiospores (Fig. 2 C) [40 / 2 / 2] 12.5–14.0 (14.5) × 4.0–4.5 (5.0) µm [Q = (2.50) 2.77–3.5 (3.63), Q = 3.08 ± 0.28], penguin-shaped in side view, with suprahilar depression, adaxial side convex, abaxial side nearly straight, apex contracted and narrowed, papilliform, fusiform in front view; colorless, hyaline, smooth, dextrinoid, slightly thick-walled, congophilous, not metachromatic in cresyl blue. Basidia 20–27 × 8–12 µm, clavate, 4 - spored. Lamella edge sterile. Cheilocystidia (Fig. 2 B) 9–23 × 10–24 µm, mostly clavate to sub-spherical, apex obtuse; colorless, hyaline, thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileus covering (Fig. 2 D) a trichoderm consisting of elongate, subcylindrical, apically attenuate, terminal elements 120–450 × 8–10 µm, without or rarely with septa at the base, base mixed with a layer of short and clavate elements (35–90 × 7–11 µm), with yellow-brownish intracellular pigment. Clamp connections present in all tissues. Distribution. Known only from Yunnan Province, China. Habitat. Solitary or in small groups, saprotrophic and terrestrial on grasslands under the mixed conifer and broadleaf forest in summer. Additional specimens examined. China • Yunnan: Jinghong City, Dadugang Town, 7 September 2007, alt. 1050 m, Liang 808 (RITF 541, paratype). Notes. Lepiota brunneophora is characterized by its pileus with yellowish-brown to brown squamules and striate margin, reddish-brown to purplish-brown stipe covering with whitish and floccose squamules, penguin-shaped basidiospores with a distinctly narrowed apex, clavate to sub-spherical cheilocystidia, and a trichodermal pileus covering intermixed with clavate and short elements. Lepiota brunneophora is similar to L. attenuata Jun F. Liang & Zhu L. Yang in its small basidiomata, the absence of an annulus, a pileus with yellowish-brown squamules and a striate margin, and penguin-shaped basidiospores with a distinctly narrowed apex, but the difference between the two lies in that the latter has whitish stipe covering with fine grayish orange squamules, longer basidiospores, and a pileus covering with inflated elements (Liang et al. 2011). Lepiota metulispora (Berk. & Broome) Sacc. and L. pakistanensis A. Rehman, Afshan, Usman & Khalid have a pileus with pale brown to brown squamules and striations. Both species have some features that serve as diagnostic characteristics separating them from L. brunneophora, such as L. metulispora having a whitish annulus, stipe covering with tomentose squamules at the lower part, penguin-shaped basidiospores without a distinctly narrowed apex (Liang et al. 2011), while L. pakistanensis possesses a whitish annulus, stipe covering with creamy white squamules at the basal part, and penguin-shaped basidiospores without a distinctly narrowed apex (Rehman et al. 2024). Besides, L. cortinarius J. E. Lange could be distinguished from L. brunneophora by larger basidiomata, a pileus without striation on the margin, whitish stipe with pale yellow to dark brown squamules, and basidiospores without a narrowed apex (Lange 1915; Liang 2007). Lepiota clypeolarioides Rea was typically different from L. brunneophora in its whitish to pale ochre pileus without striation, a stipe with whitish upper part and dirty white part, and smaller (6–8 × 4–5 μm) and ellipsoid basidiospores (Rea 1922; Hausknecht and Pidlich-Aigener 2005). Lepiota ampliocystidiata Jun F. Liang shares some identical features with L. brunneophora, such as small basidiomata, pileus with striation, penguin-shaped basidiospores with a distinctly narrowed apex, but is differentiated by its dark brown to black brownish squamules on the pileus, whitish annulus, longer [(13.0) 15.0–20.0 (21.5) × (4.0) 4.5–5.5 (6.0) μm] basidiospores (Liang 2012). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that L. brunneophora is sister (BS = 100 % & PP = 1.00) to L. thrombophora. Unlike the former, the latter exhibits reddish-brown to dark brown squamules on the pileus, stipe displaying cream and smooth above the annulus and pale brown below, whitish annulus, penguin-shaped basidiospores without a distinctly narrowed apex (Saccardo 1887; Zhou 2010; Liang et al. 2011).