Ramaria thindii K. Das, Hembrom, A. Parihar & A. Ghosh, 2020

Rossi, Walter, Das, Kanad, Hembrom, Manoj Emanuel, Santamaria, Sergi, Parihar, Arvind, Ghosh, Aniket, Henkel, Terry W., Hofstetter, Valerie & Randrianjohany, Émile, 2020, Fungal Biodiversity Profiles 91 - 100, Cryptogamie, Mycologie 20 (4), pp. 69-107 : 88-92

97. Ramaria thindii K. Das, Hembrom, A. Parihar & A. Ghosh , sp. nov.

( Figs 13-15 )

Distinct from other Ramaria by nrITS sequence data and by the combination of predominantly pale orange to yellow, medium to large-sized (50-190 × 13-80 mm) basidiomata with rhizomorphs at the white stipe base, the glutinous surface when fresh and the sour taste, the warty basidiospore ornamentation, absence of clamp connections and its occurrence under Abies in subalpine Himalaya.

HOLOTYPE. — India. Sikkim, East district, Memeinchu , 3539 m a.s.l., on soil under Abies densa , 2.VIII.2018, Kanad Das, KD 18- 72 (holo-, CAL [ CAL1786 ]!).

MYCOBANK. — MB 831429.

GENBANK. —MN046114 (nrITS, holotype), MN046115 (nrITS, paratype).

ETYMOLOGY. — Commemorating Prof. K. S. Thind for his invaluable contribution to diversity and taxonomy of Indian Ramaria .

ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — India. Sikkim, East district, Opposite to firing range forest, 3700 m a.s.l., on soil under Abies densa , 5.VIII.2018, Kanad Das, KD 18-79 (para-, CAL[CAL1787]).

DESCRIPTION

Basidiomata

Medium to large, 50-190 × 13-80 mm, humicolous, gregarious to solitary, erect, cylindrical-coraloid in overall appearance but never like cauliflower, fleshy and glutinous when fresh.

Stipe

Mostly buried, 30-60 × 5-20 mm (above and below ground), narrowing gradually and rooting with distinct cord-like rhizomorph, widening towards branches, few laterally fused with type albidior United States type rasilispora United States States abietina United States abietina Spain United States type States type apiculata United States var. concolor United States type 4 7 9 Ramaria apiculata var. compacta United States type United States type States aurantiitamosa United States type States States United States type var. chondrobasis United States type aurantiisiccescens United States United States United States United States United States United States type thindii K. Das, Hembrom, A. Parihar & A. Ghosh , sp. nov. thindii K. Das, Hembrom, A. Parihar & A. Ghosh , sp. nov. Italy type Italy type States var. violeitingens United States type var. gelatiniaurantia United States type var. violeitingens United States United States var. cyaneigranosa United States type United States type celerivirescens United States celerivirescens United States States type States thiersii United States type var. tsugensis United States type United States United States type United States United States States United States type United States 0.05

adjacent stipe, deeply grooved at juncture of fused branches, smooth, glabrous, pale yellow to pastel yellow (3A3-A4) gradually paler, orange white to pale orange (5A2-A3) when fresh, pale pinkish when maturing or sometimes almost whitish throughout, mostly white towards rooting underground base; rhizomorph white; context pithy to hollow, glutinous, watery fluid exudes when broken, internal flesh tough waxy when dried, concolorous with surface, basal part buff white, unchanging when bruised.

Branches

In 4-5 ranks, dichotomously throughout, almost concolorous with above-ground part of stipe, becoming pale pinkorange with maturity or after handling; primary branch 3-8 in numbers, 5-25 mm wide, ascending to flaring; ultimate branchlet 2-7 mm long, dichotomous, elongated, apices acute to obtuse, cream to more or less ochraceous to pale lemon yellow, unchanging when bruised.

Context

Waxy translucent, turning olive green with FeSO4, unchanging with KOH.

Taste

Slightly sour.

Odour

Fungoid, pleasant.

Hyphal system

Monomitic, generative hyphae septate, branched, agglutinated with crystalline contents, difficult to discern, pale yellow in cluster, individually hyaline; tramal hyphae of basal region (stipe base) 2-10 µm wide, slightly inflated, branched, thin- to thick-walled (wall up to 1 µm), parallel, compactly arranged; tramal hyphae of branches 2-9 µm wide, slightly inflated, branched, thin- to thick-walled, parallel, compactly arranged.

A C B D

Hymenium

Throughout the basidiomata.

Basidioles

35-70 × 5-8 µm, clavate to elongate cylindrical, non-clamped, smooth, hyaline.

Basidia

40-75 × 9-12 µm, clavate to elongate-cylindrical, non-clamped, 2-4 stertigmate (sterigmata 5-7 µm long), smooth, hyaline.

Basidiospores

8-(10.2)-11(12) × 3.5-(4.69)-5.5 µm, Q = 1.6-(2.18)-2.75, ellipsoid or elongate, minute to distinctly verrucose, apiculate, one to multiguttulate, pale yellow to hyaline, non-cyanophilic, inamyloid.

NOTES

Ramaria Fr. ex Bonord. is characterized by white to vividly coloured, coral-like and poly- to dichotomously branched fruiting bodies that are usually composed of a mono- to dimitic hyphal system, with or without clamps on generative hyphae; basidiospores that may be guttulate, smooth or ornamented (echinulate/verrucose-reticulate or striate ornamentations) forming yellow to ochraceous or brown spore deposits [ Corner (1950), Corner & Thind (1961), Thind (1961), Marr & Stuntz (1973), Petersen (1975, 1981), Zhishu et al. (1993), Humpert et al. (2001) and Sharma (2013)].

The newly described R. thindii is a highly appreciated edible mushroom in the state of Sikkim, India. The combination of brightly coloured, large and terricolous fruiting bodies having basal, thread-like, monomitic rhizomorphs, and non-clamped basidia producing warted (non-echinate) basidiospores of 8-10.2-11(12) × 3.5-4.7-5.5 µm place R. thindii in R. subg. Laeticolora Marr & D. E. Stuntz ( Exeter et al. 2006).

In our nrITS-based phylogenetic analysis ( Fig. 13 ), our collections of R. thindii formed a strongly supported clade (BS=100%) with three specimens of R. verlotensis Marr & D. E. Stuntz (including the holotype), a species described from the Pacific North West (see Gordon 2017). The latter species differs from R. thindii in its smaller (90 × 100 mm) fruiting bodies and indistinctive taste. Both species form again a well-supported clade (BS=84%) with the Italian R. abetonensis Franchi & M. Marchetti and the American R. gelatiniaurantia Marr & D. E. Stuntz. , both being equally very similar to our species.

In the field, R. thindii may further be confused with R. subalpina K. Das & K. Acharya , R. subaurantiaca Corner , R. synaptopoda Marr & D. E. Stuntz , R. rasilispora Marr & D. E. Stuntz and R. flavobrunnescens var. formosoides Corner. Ramaria subalpina , also originally described from Indian Himalaya, can easily be distinguished because the base of its fruiting bodies turns blood red to brownish red when bruised ( Das et al. 2016). Ramaria subaurantiaca , also reported from the Himalayas ( Thind 1961), turns pale yellow when bruised, remains non-glutinous and lacks the mild-sour taste of our species. Ramaria synaptopoda and R. rasilispora both have smaller basidiomata (up to 80 × 40 mm and up to 110 × 45 mm, respectively) without any basal rhizomorphs and they lack any distinctive taste ( Sharda & Thind 1986). R. flavobrunnescens var. formosoides shows clamped basidia and larger [10.5- 14(15) × 3.5-4.5 µm] basidiospores ( Sharda & Thind 1986).

Figures

FIG. 13. — Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogram inferred from raxmlGUI (Silvestro & Michalak 2012) based on nrITS sequences of Ramaria Fr. ex Bonord. with Gomphus Pers. chosen as outgroup. One thousand bootstrap replicates were analyzed to obtain nodal support values. Bootstrap support values (>50%) obtained from ML analysis are shown above or below the branches at nodes. Two collections of the novel Indian species are shown in red and the holotype in bold in the phylogram.

FIG. 14. — Ramaria thindii K. Das, Hembrom, A. Parihar & A. Ghosh, sp. nov. (from holotype): A-C, fresh basidiomata in the forest and basecamp; D, hyphae in trama of basal region; E, basidiospores. Scale bars: D, E, 10 µm.