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Dermolomais traditionally known as a small genus of agarics classified in the familyTricholomataceae. This study implemented a multilocus phylogeny of six DNA regions to recognize phylogenetic species within the genus. The species concept is reinforced by observations of well-defined morphological characters enhanced by long term sampling effort in Europe and North America. Thirty EuropeanDermolomaspecies are described, including 16 new species from Europe and three from North American. These species are classified into two subgenera morphologically distinguished by spores with positive or negative amyloid reaction. A new genusNeodermolomais introduced for theDermoloma-like speciesN. campestre. Localized or continental-scale species endemicity was confirmed based on studied material, but more inclusive phylogenetic clustering supported a mixture of North American species among the European clades. Of the 22 names validly published from Europe prior to this study, 11 could be assigned to well-definedDermolomaspecies recognized here. Of the remaining 11 names, two were considered representingDermolomaspecies not recorded since their description, and nine were established as later synonyms of other species. Morphological studies ofDermolomaare challenging due to the relatively low number of characters suitable for identification of species. The majority of morphological characters showed continuous variation with high overlap throughout the genus. For this reason, species identification requires an awareness of morphological variability within species, and multiple distinguishing characters need to be combined, and furthermore, often a barcode sequence is needed for a certain identification. Stable isotope analysis inDermolomaof δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N revealed an ecological signature similar to known CHEGD fungi, i.e.ClavariaceaeandHygrocybes.l. This indicates thatDermolomaspecies are biotrophic but neither ectomycorrhizal nor saprotrophic and may form mutualistic root endophytic associations with vascular plants. 

A new ectomycorrhizal species was discovered during the first survey of fungal diversity at Brijuni National Park (Croatia), which consists of 14 islands and islets. The National Park is located in the Mediterranean Biogeographical Region, a prominent climate change hot-spot. Inocybe brijunica sp. nov., from sect. Hysterices (Agaricales, Inocybaceae), is described based on morphology and multilocus phylogenetic data. The holotype collection was found at the edge between grassland and Quercus ilex forest with a few planted Pinus pinea trees, on Veli Brijun Island, the largest island of the archipelago. It is easily recognized by a conspicuous orange to orange–red–brown membranaceous surface layer located at or just above the basal part of the stipe. Other distinctive features of I. brijunica are the medium brown, radially fibrillose to rimose pileus; pale to medium brown stipe with fugacious cortina; relatively small, amygdaliform to phaseoliform, and smooth basidiospores, measuring ca. 6.5–9 × 4–5.5 µm; thick-walled, utriform, lageniform or fusiform pleurocystidia (lamprocystidia) with crystals and mostly not yellowing in alkaline solutions; cheilocystidia of two types (lamprocystidia and leptocystidia); and the presence of abundant caulocystidia only in the upper 2–3 mm of the stipe. Phylogenetic reconstruction of a concatenated dataset of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the nuclear 28S rRNA gene (nrLSU), and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (rpb2) resolved I. brijunica and I. glabripes as sister species. 

Abstract Novel methods for sampling and characterizing biodiversity hold great promise for re-evaluating patterns of life across the planet. The sampling of airborne spores with a cyclone sampler, and the sequencing of their DNA, have been suggested as an efficient and well-calibrated tool for surveying fungal diversity across various environments. Here we present data originating from the Global Spore Sampling Project, comprising 2,768 samples collected during two years at 47 outdoor locations across the world. Each sample represents fungal DNA extracted from 24 m³of air. We applied a conservative bioinformatics pipeline that filtered out sequences that did not show strong evidence of representing a fungal species. The pipeline yielded 27,954 species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Each OTU is accompanied by a probabilistic taxonomic classification, validated through comparison with expert evaluations. To examine the potential of the data for ecological analyses, we partitioned the variation in species distributions into spatial and seasonal components, showing a strong effect of the annual mean temperature on community composition. 

Abstract Fungi are among the most diverse and ecologically important kingdoms in life. However, the distributional ranges of fungi remain largely unknown as do the ecological mechanisms that shape their distributions^1,2. To provide an integrated view of the spatial and seasonal dynamics of fungi, we implemented a globally distributed standardized aerial sampling of fungal spores³. The vast majority of operational taxonomic units were detected within only one climatic zone, and the spatiotemporal patterns of species richness and community composition were mostly explained by annual mean air temperature. Tropical regions hosted the highest fungal diversity except for lichenized, ericoid mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi, which reached their peak diversity in temperate regions. The sensitivity in climatic responses was associated with phylogenetic relatedness, suggesting that large-scale distributions of some fungal groups are partially constrained by their ancestral niche. There was a strong phylogenetic signal in seasonal sensitivity, suggesting that some groups of fungi have retained their ancestral trait of sporulating for only a short period. Overall, our results show that the hyperdiverse kingdom of fungi follows globally highly predictable spatial and temporal dynamics, with seasonality in both species richness and community composition increasing with latitude. Our study reports patterns resembling those described for other major groups of organisms, thus making a major contribution to the long-standing debate on whether organisms with a microbial lifestyle follow the global biodiversity paradigms known for macroorganisms^4,5.