AUTHOR=Codjia Jean Evans I. , Cai Qing , Zhou Sheng Wen , Luo Hong , Ryberg Martin , Yorou Nourou S. , Yang Zhu L. 

TITLE=Morphology, Multilocus Phylogeny, and Toxin Analysis Reveal Amanita albolimbata, the First Lethal Amanita Species From Benin, West Africa

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.599047

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.599047

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Many species of <italic>Amanita</italic> sect. <italic>Phalloideae</italic> (Fr.) Quél. cause death of people after consumption around the world. <italic>Amanita albolimbata</italic>, a new species of <italic>A.</italic> sect. <italic>Phalloideae</italic> from Benin, is described here. The taxon represents the first lethal species of <italic>A.</italic> sect. <italic>Phalloideae</italic> known from Benin. Morphology and molecular phylogenetic analyses based on five genes (ITS, nrLSU, <italic>rpb2</italic>, <italic>tef1-</italic>α, and β<italic>-tubulin</italic>) revealed that <italic>A. albolimbata</italic> is a distinct species. The species is characterized by its smooth, white pileus sometimes covered by a patchy volval remnant, a bulbous stipe with a white limbate volva, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid, amyloid basidiospores, and abundant inflated cells in the volva. Screening for the most notorious toxins by liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed the presence of α-amanitin, β-amanitin, and phallacidin in <italic>A. albolimbata</italic>.</p>