AUTHOR=Huang Ting , Su Lin-Jie , Zeng Nian-Kai , Lee Serena M. L. , Lee Su-See , Thi Bee Kin , Zhang Wen-Hao , Ma Jing , Huang Hong-Yan , Jiang Shuai , Tang Li-Ping 

TITLE=Notes on Amanita section Validae in Hainan Island, China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1087756

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1087756

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Hainan is the second largest island in China with the most extensive and well-preserved tropical forests and is also the largest island of the Indo Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. It provides <italic>in situ</italic> conservation for the unique ecosystem of the island. Recent studies have shown that there are diverse fungal species in Hainan. In this study, about 40 collections of the genus <italic>Amanita</italic> have been studied based on the morphology and molecular systematics, including 35 Chinese specimens (24 from Hainan, and eleven from other regions) and three specimens from other countries (Singapore and Malaysia). In total, five new species belonging to <italic>Amanita</italic> section <italic>Validae</italic> are described: <italic>A. cacaina</italic>, <italic>A. parvigrisea</italic>, <italic>A. pseudofritillaria</italic>, <italic>A. pseudosculpta</italic>, and <italic>A. yangii. Amanita parvifritillaria</italic> is recorded for the first time in Hainan. It is also the first report of this fungus occurring, outside Yunnan Province, China. Among the five new species, two are unique in this section because of the appendiculate pileus margin and the absence of an annulus. Based on these new findings, the diagnosis of the section <italic>Validae</italic> should be slightly modified to include a few species with appendiculate margin and the lack of annulus.</p>