Atheniella taoyao Q. Na & Y.P. Ge, 2021

Ge, Yupeng, Liu, Zewei, Zeng, Hui, Cheng, Xianhao & Na, Qin, 2021, Updated description of Atheniella (Mycenaceae, Agaricales), including three new species with brightly coloured pilei from Yunnan Province, southwest China, MycoKeys 81, pp. 139-164 : 139

Atheniella taoyao Q. Na & Y.P. Ge sp. nov.

Figs 2q-s , 7 , 8

Diagnosis.

Pileus pinkish to light reddish. Lamellae decurrent. Stipe pruninose, base slightly swollen. Basidiospores narrowly ellipsoid to cylindrical, inamyloid. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia fusiform. Pileipellis hyphae covered with excrescences. Stipitipellis smooth, caulocystidia of two types, fusiform or subglobose. All tissues non-reactive in iodine. Clamps absent.

Holotype.

China. Yunnan Province, Yuxi City, Xinping County, Mopanshan National Forest Park, 25 Jul 2020, Qin Na, Yupeng Ge and Zewei Liu, FFAAS0352 (Collection No. MY0184).

Etymology.

Refers to the pinkish to reddish basidiomata. Tao Yao is a poem in the "The Book of Songs" that praises a young woman, whose beauty is compared to a flowering peach tree and who will be married and assume a new role in life.

Description.

Pileus 1.4-5.8 mm in diam., campanulate or hemispherical, obtusely umbonate in the centre, flattening with age, translucent-striate, light pink-salmon (8A3), light coral red (8B7), fading light pink (8A2) or white to the margin, delicately pubescent, glabrescent with age, with a flat margin. Context pure white, thin, fragile. Lamellae decurrent dentate, ascending, sparse, pure white, edges concolorous with the sides. Stipe 46-58 × 0.5-1.0 mm, central, terete, almost equal, hollow, fragile, transparent, pruninose, glabrescent with age, base slightly swollen, with tiny, white, fine hairs. Odourless, taste mild.

Basidiospores [80/4/3] (7.4) 7.7- 8.3 -9.1 (9.4) × (3.9) 4.1- 4.5 -5.0 (5.5) μm [Q = 1.73-2.08, Q = 1.85 ± 0.076] [holotype [40/2/1] (7.4) 7.7- 8.2 -9.0 (9.2) × (4.0) 4.1- 4.4 -5.0 (5.4) μm, Q = 1.75-1.99, Q = 1.84 ± 0.079], narrowly ellipsoid to cylindrical, hyaline, guttulate, thin-walled, inamyloid. Basidia 20-31 × 5-7 μm, hyaline, clavate, 2-spored. Cheilocystidia 23-42 × 5-10 μm, fusiform, long-stalked, hyaline. Pleurocystidia similar to cheilocystidia, 20-40 × 5-9 μm. Pileipellis hyphae 1-5 μm wide, cutis; covered with numbers of cylindrical or fusiform excrescences, 3.5-10.4 × 1.4-4.3 μm, hyaline. Hyphae of the stipitipellis 3-10 μm wide, hyaline, smooth; caulocystidia fusiform, 16.5-24.9 × 5.3-11.5 μm or subglobose, 11.8-16.5 × 9.1-12.9 μm. All tissues non-reactive in iodine. Clamps not seen.

Habit and habitat.

Scattered to gregarious on living wood in evergreen broadleaf forest, for example, Cephalotaxus , Cunninghamia .

Other specimens examined.

Yunnan Province, Yuxi City, Xinping County, Mopanshan National Forest Park, 25 Jul 2020, Qin Na, Yupeng Ge and Zewei Liu, FFAAS0351 (Collection No. MY0183); Yunnan Province, Yuxi City, Xinping County, Shimenxia, 26 Jul 2020, Qin Na, Yupeng Ge and Zewei Liu, FFAAS0353 (Collection No. MY0185).

Remarks.

Atheniella taoyao is unique in Atheniella because of the light pink-salmon pileus, decurrent lamellae and the two types of caulocystidia. Atheniella adonis most closely resembles A. taoyao , but the former differs in having adnate to adnexed lamellae, stipe with pink at the apex and larger caulocystidia (15-50 × 3.5-13.5 μm) ( Aronsen and Læssøe 2016). Atheniella amabillissima is closely allied to A. taoyao , but differs in the larger basidiomata (pileus 3-20 mm in diam.), pileus fading to white or yellow with age, stipe tinted with coral red and yellow with age and the cheilocystidia are up to 65 μm in length ( Smith 1935b). Aravindakshan and Manimohan (2015) described the species Mycena rohitha Aravind. & Manim. (≡ Atheniella rohitha ) collected from India. This taxon differs from Atheniella taoyao in its orange stipe and gelatinous pileus hyphae ( Aravindakshan and Manimohan 2015). Mycena wubabulna , a species described by Grgurinovic (2003) that should be transferred to Atheniella , is readily identified by its yellowish stipe base and cylindrical basidiospores (7.5-10.6 × 3.1-4.7 μm; Q = 2.3).

Figures

Figure 2. Basidiomata of Atheniella species a-c Atheniella adonis (Bull.) Redhead, Moncalvo, Vilgalys, Desjardin & B. A. Perry d-f Atheniella aurantiidisca (Murrill) Redhead, Moncalvo, Vilgalys, Desjardin & B. A. Perry g-i Atheniella flavida Q. Na & Y. P. Ge j-l Atheniella flavoalba (Fr.) Redhead, Moncalvo, Vilgalys, Desjardin & B. A. Perry m-p Atheniella rutila Q. Na & Y. P. Ge q-s Atheniella taoyao Q. Na & Y. P. Ge. Scale bars: 10 mm (a-f, j-l, n-p), 5 mm (g-i, q-s). Photographs a, b, d-h, j-o, q, r by Qin Na; c, i, p, s by Yupeng Ge.

Figure 7. Microscopic features of Atheniella taoyao (FFAAS 0352, holotype) a-c basidiospores d basidia e cheilocystidia f, g pleurocystidia h pileipellis i stipitipellis. Scale bars: 10 μm (a- i).

Figure 8. Morphological features of Atheniella taoyao (FFAAS 0352, holotype) a basidiomata b basidia c pleurocystidia d basidiospores e cheilocystidia f stipitipellis and caulocystidia g pileipellis. Scale bars: 5 mm (a); 10 μm (b-g). Drawingsby Qin Na and Yupeng Ge.