Molecular and morphological evidence reveals four new species of the genus Lepiota (Agaricales, Verrucosporaceae) in Hebei Province, China

Four new species of Lepiota collected from Hebei Province, northern China, namely Lepiota huangyangshanensis , L. maojingbaensis , L. varia , and L. xiaowutaishanensis , are described based on morphological characteristics and molecular data. Lepiota huangyangshanensis is characterized by a cream to straw-yellow pileus with olivaceous buff to straw-yellow squamules, small ellipsoid to amygdaliform basidiospores, narrowly clavate to clavate cheilocystidia, and pileus and stipe coverings composed of chains of either spherical or cylindrical cells. Lepiota maojingbaensis features a cream to pale clay-buff pileus, a clay-pink to clay-buff stipe covered with white to cream tomentum in the lower half, a trichodermal pileus covering, and truncate to spurred basidiospores. Lepiota varia exhibits a cream to flesh-pink pileus with squamules ranging from flesh-pink to brownish vinaceous to rose, a cream to clay-buff stipe with buff, flesh-pink to fawn squamules, a trichodermal pileus covering, and truncate to spurred basidiospores. Lepiota xiaowutaishanensis has a white, flesh-pink to clay-pink pileus, a flesh-pink to fawn stipe, a hymeniform pileus covering, and ellipsoid, broadly ellipsoid to oblong basidiospores. Phylogenetic analyses based on a four-locus dataset (ITS, nrLSU, RPB2 , mtSSU) assigned the four new species to three well-supported sections: sect. Eriophorae , sect. Stenosporae and sect. Cristatae . Furthermore, subsect. Paralilaceae was raised to the rank of section, as it did not form a monophyletic clade within sect. Lilaceae phylogenetically.