Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2025-12-04
Page range: 147-162
Abstract views: 30
PDF downloaded: 4

Two new species and a new record of Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizales) from South Korea

Department of Forest Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 28644, Republic of Korea
Department of Forest Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 28644, Republic of Korea
Ecological Technology Research Team, Division of Ecological Applications Research, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon, 33657, Republic of Korea
Forest Biodiversity Division, Korea National Arboretum, Pocheon 11186, Republic of Korea
National Ecological Survey Team, Division of Ecological Survey, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon, 33657, Republic of Korea
Department of Forest Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 28644, Republic of Korea
Acetabulum clade Asia Elastica clade Helvella Molecular phylogeny Ascomycota Fungi

Abstract

In this study, we conducted morphological examinations and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses using ITS2, nrLSU, and hsp90 markers on seven Helvella specimens collected in Korea in 2024. Our analyses confirmed the presence of six phylogenetic species, viz. including two novel species H. griseomacropus and H. koreana and one new record for Korea, H. pseudoelastica. The two new species formed independent clades within the Macropus and Solitaria lineages, respectively, and were clearly distinguishable from related taxa based on both morphological characteristics and molecular data. Notably, H. koreana formed a sister clade to H. taiyuanensis, but its distinct morphology and phylogenetic placement support its recognition as a new species. In addition, we secured a specimen of H. acetabulum, previously reported in Korea only in literature, but without any voucher specimens; its presence is now confirmed with our collection.

References

  1. Abbott, S.P. & Currah, R.S. (1997) The Helvellaceae: systematic revision and occurrence in northern and northwestern North America. Mycotaxon 62: 1–125. https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TD9NG3F
  2. Dissing, H. (1966) The genus Helvella in Europe with special emphasis on the species found in Norden. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv 25: 1–172.
  3. Harmaja, H. (1977) A revision of the Helvella acetabulum group (Pezizales) in Fennoscandia. Karstenia 17: 45–58. https://doi.org/10.29203/ka.1977.124
  4. Hillis, D.M. & Bull, J.J. (1993) An empirical test of bootstrapping as a method for assessing confidence in phylogenetic analysis. Systematic biology 42 (2): 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/42.2.182
  5. Hoang, D.T., Chernomor, O., Von Haeseler, A., Minh, B.Q. & Vinh, L.S. (2018) UFBoot2: improving the ultrafast bootstrap approximation. Molecular biology and evolution 35 (2): 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx281
  6. Hwang, J., Zhao, Q., Yang, Z.L., Wang, Z. & Townsend, J.P. (2015) Solving the ecological puzzle of mycorrhizal associations using data from annotated collections and environmental samples–an example of saddle fungi. Environmental Microbiology Reports 7: 658–667. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12303
  7. Kalyaanamoorthy, S., Minh, B.Q., Wong, T.K., Von Haeseler, A. & Jermiin, L.S. (2017) ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates. Nature methods 14 (6): 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4285
  8. Katoh, K., Misawa, K., Kuma, K.I. & Miyata, T. (2002) MAFFT: a novel method for rapid multiple sequence alignment based on fast Fourier transform. Nucleic acids research 30 (14): 3059–3066. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkf436
  9. Katoh, K. & Standley, D.M. (2013) MAFFT multiple sequence alignment software version 7: improvements in performance and usability. Molecular biology and evolution 30: 772–780. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst010
  10. Kim, Y.S., Seok, S.J., Lee, K.H., Kim, W.K., Won, H.Y., Hyeon, K.S., Ha, S.K., Kim, S.P., Sim, K.M. & Lee, Y.S. (2004) Synthetic management of wild mushroom resourses. In: Test research report: agricultural environment research, pp. 551–596.
  11. Kim, C.S., Jo, J.W., Kwag, Y.N., Sung, G.H., Lee, S.G., Kim, S.Y., Shin, C.H. & Han, S.K. (2015) Mushroom flora of Ulleung-gun and a newly recorded Bovista species in the Republic of Korea. Mycobiology 43 (3): 239–257. https://doi.org/10.5941/MYCO.2015.43.3
  12. Landeros, F., Iturriaga, T. & Guzmán-Dávalos, L. (2012) Type studies in Helvella (Pezizales) 1. Mycotaxon 119: 35–63. https://doi.org/10.5248/119.35
  13. Landeros, F., Iturriaga, T., Rodríguez, A., Vargas-Amado, G. & Guzmán-Dávalos, L. (2015) Advances in the phylogeny of Helvella (Fungi: Ascomycota), inferred from nuclear ribosomal LSU sequences and morphological data. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 86: 856–871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmb.2015.09.005
  14. Landeros, F., Ferrusca-Rico, F.M., Guzman-Davalos, L., ESQUIVEL-NARANJO, E.U., Matias-Ferrer, N., Burrola-Aguilar, C., Viurcos-Martinez, G. & Garibay-Orijel, R. (2021) Helvella jocatoi sp. nov. (Pezizales, Ascomycota), a new species from H. lacunosa complex with cultural importance in central Mexico Abies religiosa forests. Phytotaxa 498: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.498.1.1
  15. Lanfear, R., Frandsen, P.B., Wright, A.M., Senfeld, T. & Calcott, B. (2017) PartitionFinder 2: new methods for selecting partitioned models of evolution for molecular and morphological phylogenetic analyses. Molecular biology and evolution 34: 772–773. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw260
  16. Letunic, I. & Bork, P. (2024) Interactive Tree of Life (iTOL) v6: recent updates to the phylogenetic tree display and annotation tool. Nucleic acids research 52 (W1): W78–W82. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae268
  17. Li, T.S., Zhou, D.Q., Zhao, Q. & Zhang, Y. (2023) A new addition to the Helvella macropus group (Helvellaceae) from Southwestern China. Phytotaxa 613 (1): 39–46. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.613.1.3
  18. Liu, B., Du, F. & Cao, J.Z. (1985) New species and new combination of the genus Helvella. Acta Mycologica Sinica 4: 208–217.
  19. Mao, N., Xu, Y.Y., Zhang, Y.X., Huang, X.B., Hou, C.L. & Fan, L. (2023) Phylogeny and species diversity of the genus Helvella with emphasis on eighteen new species from China. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 12 (1): 111–152. https://doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2023.12.08
  20. Nguyen, L.T., Schmidt, H.A., Von Haeseler, A. & Minh, B.Q. (2015) IQ-TREE: a fast and effective stochastic algorithm for estimating maximum-likelihood phylogenies. Molecular biology and evolution 32 (1): 268–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu300
  21. Park, S.Y., Sohee, K., Eunjin, K., Eo, J.K. & Lee, H. (2025) Taxonomic Revision of Korean Saddle Fungi (Helvella, Helvellaceae). Mycobiology 53 (1): 79–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/12298093.2024.2440172
  22. Rathnayaka, A.R., Tennakoon, D.S., Jones, G.E., Wanasinghe, D.N., Bhat, D.J., Priyashantha, A.H., Stephenson, S.L., Tibpromma, S. & Karunarathna, S.C. (2025) Significance of precise documentation of hosts and geospatial data of fungal collections, with an emphasis on plant-associated fungi. New Zealand Journal of Botany 63 (2–3): 462–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2024.2381734
  23. Ronquist, F., Teslenko, M., van der Mark, P., Ayres, D.L., Darling, A., Höhna, S., Larget, B., Liu, L., Suchard, M.A. & Huelsenbeck, J.P. (2012) MrBayes 3.2: efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model choice across a large model space. Systematic biology 61 (3): 539–542. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys029
  24. Skrede, I., Carlsen, T. & Schumacher, T. (2017) A synopsis of the saddle fungi (Helvella: Ascomycota) in Europe - species delimitation, taxonomy and typification. Persoonia 39: 201–253. https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2017.39.09
  25. Ullah, M., Rehman, U., Ahmad, I., Ullah, F., Akram, W., Maula, F. & Saba, M. (2025) Helvella pakistanica (Helvellaceae, Ascomycota), New Species from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Biology Bulletin Reviews 15 (2): 306–311. https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079086424601236
  26. Wang, X.C., Liu, T.Z., Chen, S.L., Li, Y. & Zhuang, W.Y. (2019) A four-locus phylogeny of rib-stiped cupulate species of Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizales) with discovery of three new species. MycoKeys 60: 45. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.60.38186
  27. Wang, X.C., Zhuang, W.Y. & Zhao, R.L. (2023) Species Diversity of Helvella lacunosa Clade (Pezizales, Ascomycota) in China and Description of Sixteen New Species. Journal of Fungi 9: 697. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9070697
  28. Weber, N.S. (1972) The genus Helvella in Michigan. The Michigan Botanist 11: 147–201.
  29. White, T.J., Bruns, T., Lee, S.J.W.T. & Taylor, J.W. (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications, vol. 18. pp. 315–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-372180-8.50042-1
  30. Yu, F.M., Lei, L. & Zhao, Q. (2023) Four New Additions to Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizales) from Northern Thailand. Frontiers in Microbiology 14: 1182025. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1182025
  31. Zhao, Q., Sulayman, M., Zhu, X.-T., Zhao, Y.-C., Yang, Z.-L. & Hyde, K.D. (2016) Species clarification of the culinary Bachu mushroom in western China. Mycologia 108: 828–836. https://doi.org/10.3852/16-002

How to Cite

Park, S.-Y., Kim, S., Park, E., Kwag, Y.-N., Eo, J.-K. & Lee, H. (2025) Two new species and a new record of Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizales) from South Korea. Phytotaxa 732 (2): 147–162. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.732.2.3