Search for: All records

Abstract Agarics (gilled mushrooms) and the order Agaricales include some of the best‐known and most charismatic fungi. However, neither group has had its constituent genera exhaustively compiled in a modern phylogenetic context. To provide that framework, we identified and analyzed 1383 names of genera of agarics (regardless of taxonomic placement) and the Agaricales (regardless of morphology), compiling various data for each name. Including 590 accepted names, the other 793 listed with reasons explaining their disuse, this compendium is intended to be comprehensive at present and phylogenetically up‐to‐date. Data we gathered included type species, continents from which type species were described, accepted synonyms of those species, current family placements, gross macromorphological categories, and sequenced loci (for type specimens, type species, and each genus as a whole). Index Fungorum provided a basis for the data, but much was manually confirmed, augmented, or corrected based on recent literature. Among accepted gilled genera, 82% belonged to the Agaricales; among accepted genera of Agaricales, 67% were gilled. Based on automated searches of GenBank and MycoCosm, 7% of generic names had DNA sequences of their type specimens, 68% had sequences of their type species, and 87% had sequences representing their genus. This leaves an estimated 103 accepted genera entirely lacking molecular data. Some subsets of genera have been sequenced relatively thoroughly (e.g., nidularioid genera and genera described from Europe); others relatively poorly (e.g., cyphelloid genera and genera described from Africa and tropical Asia). We also list nomenclaturally threatened and taxonomically doubtful genus and family names. 

Abstract The increasing number of new fungal species described from all over the world along with the use of genetics to define taxa, has dramatically changed the classification system of early-diverging fungi over the past several decades. The number of phyla established for non-Dikarya fungi has increased from 2 to 17. However, to date, both the classification and phylogeny of the basal fungi are still unresolved. In this article, we review the recent taxonomy of the basal fungi and re-evaluate the relationships among early-diverging lineages of fungal phyla. We also provide information on the ecology and distribution in  Mucoromycota and highlight the impact of chytrids on amphibian populations. Species concepts in Chytridiomycota , Aphelidiomycota , Rozellomycota , Neocallimastigomycota are discussed in this paper. To preserve the current application of the genus Nephridiophaga ( Chytridiomycota : Nephridiophagales ) , a new type species, Nephridiophaga blattellae , is proposed. 

ABSTRACT True fungi (Fungi) and fungus-like organisms (e.g.Mycetozoa,Oomycota) constitute the second largest group of organisms based on global richness estimates, with around 3 million predicted species. Compared to plants and animals, fungi have simple body plans with often morphologically and ecologically obscure structures. This poses challenges for accurate and precise identifications. Here we provide a conceptual framework for the identification of fungi, encouraging the approach of integrative (polyphasic) taxonomy for species delimitation, i.e. the combination of genealogy (phylogeny), phenotype (including autecology), and reproductive biology (when feasible). This allows objective evaluation of diagnostic characters, either phenotypic or molecular or both. Verification of identifications is crucial but often neglected. Because of clade-specific evolutionary histories, there is currently no single tool for the identification of fungi, although DNA barcoding using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) remains a first diagnosis, particularly in metabarcoding studies. Secondary DNA barcodes are increasingly implemented for groups where ITS does not provide sufficient precision. Issues of pairwise sequence similarity-based identifications and OTU clustering are discussed, and multiple sequence alignment-based phylogenetic approaches with subsequent verification are recommended as more accurate alternatives. In metabarcoding approaches, the trade-off between speed and accuracy and precision of molecular identifications must be carefully considered. Intragenomic variation of the ITS and other barcoding markers should be properly documented, as phylotype diversity is not necessarily a proxy of species richness. Important strategies to improve molecular identification of fungi are: (1) broadly document intraspecific and intragenomic variation of barcoding markers; (2) substantially expand sequence repositories, focusing on undersampled clades and missing taxa; (3) improve curation of sequence labels in primary repositories and substantially increase the number of sequences based on verified material; (4) link sequence data to digital information of voucher specimens including imagery. In parallel, technological improvements to genome sequencing offer promising alternatives to DNA barcoding in the future. Despite the prevalence of DNA-based fungal taxonomy, phenotype-based approaches remain an important strategy to catalog the global diversity of fungi and establish initial species hypotheses.