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Type: Article
Published: 2016-11-09
Page range: 31–40
Abstract views: 38
PDF downloaded: 2

Epitypification of Morchella steppicola (Morchellaceae, Pezizales), a morphologically, phylogenetically and biogeographically distinct member of the Esculenta Clade from central Eurasia

Department of Mycology and Plant Resistance, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, maidan Svobody, 4, 61022 Kharkiv, Ukraine
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Tartu, Ravila St. 14A, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Tartu, Ravila St. 14A, 50411 Tartu, Estonia Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi St. 5D, 51014 Tartu, Estonia
Navoi State Pedagogical Institute, 3 Janibuy St., Navoi, Uzbekistan
Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of the Gene Pool of Plants and Animals, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 232 Bogishamol St., Tashkent 10053, Uzbekistan
Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research Unit, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Peoria, Illinois 60604-3999
Central Asia conservation ITS rDNA molecular phylogenetics steppe morel Ukraine Fungi

Abstract

The steppe morel, Morchella steppicola, is one of the more iconic species of true morels (Morchellaceae, Pezizales) based on its: 1) distinctive cerebriform pileus with densely packed labyrinthine irregular ridges, 2) genealogically exclusive position as the earliest diverging species lineage within the Esculenta clade, and 3) geographic distribution within temperate grassland steppes in central Eurasia. Given the uniqueness of this species, and conservation efforts in some Eurasian countries to protect it, we sought to study the holotype in the Mycological Herbarium of the M. G. Kholodny Institute of Botany (KW), Kyiv, Ukraine. However, because the type specimen appears to have been lost, but a picture was provided with the description, we have designated it the lectotype and epitypified this important species based on a collection made in 2014 from Lugansk province, Ukraine. Herein, we provide a detailed morphological description, provide a preliminary assessment of intraspecific diversity via phylogenetic analysis of ITS rDNA sequences from 13 M. steppicola collections spanning six Eurasian countries, and map its geographic distribution across the terrestrial ecoregions of central Eurasia.