AUTHOR=Han Yun-Xiao , Liang Zhi-Qun , Zeng Nian-Kai 

TITLE=Notes on four species of Russula subgenus Heterophyllidiae (Russulaceae, Russulales) from southern China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1140127

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1140127

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Heterophyllidiae</italic>, one of the main subgenus of <italic>Russula</italic> (Russulaceae, Russulales), is both ecologically and economically important. Although many studies have focused on subgenus <italic>Heterophyllidiae</italic> in China, the diversity, taxonomy, and molecular phylogeny still remained incompletely understood. In the present study, two new species, <italic>R. discoidea</italic> and <italic>R. niveopicta</italic>, and two known taxa, <italic>R. xanthovirens</italic> and <italic>R. subatropurpurea,</italic> were described based on morphology and molecular phylogenetic analyses of ITS and 28S DNA sequences with new collections of subgenus <italic>Heterophyllidiae</italic> from southern China. Both morphological and phylogenetic analyses consistently confirmed that <italic>R. niveopicta</italic> and <italic>R. xanthovirens</italic> belong to the subsect. <italic>Virescentinae</italic>, <italic>R. discoidea</italic> and <italic>R. subatropurpurea</italic> come under subsect. <italic>Heterophyllae</italic>, and <italic>R. prasina</italic> is synonymized with <italic>R. xanthovirens</italic>.</p>