Purple haze: Cryptic purple sequestrate in New Zealand.

is a species-rich ectomycorrhizal genus containing taxa that exhibit agaricoid or sequestrate basidiome morphologies. In New Zealand, one of the most recognizable and common species is the purple sequestrate fungus, . We used genome skimming of the almost 100-y-old type specimen from to obtain the nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region ITS1-5.

Megaphylogeny resolves global patterns of mushroom evolution.

Mushroom-forming fungi (Agaricomycetes) have the greatest morphological diversity and complexity of any group of fungi. They have radiated into most niches and fulfil diverse roles in the ecosystem, including wood decomposers, pathogens or mycorrhizal mutualists. Despite the importance of mushroom-forming fungi, large-scale patterns of their evolutionary history are poorly known, in part due to the lack of a comprehensive and dated molecular phylogeny.

Determining threshold values for barcoding fungi: lessons from Cortinarius (Basidiomycota), a highly diverse and widespread ectomycorrhizal genus.

Different distance-based threshold selection approaches were used to assess and compare use of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region to distinguish among 901 Cortinarius species represented by >3000 collections. Sources of error associated with genetic markers and selection approaches were explored and evaluated using MOTUs from genus and lineage based-alignments. Our study indicates that 1%-2% more species can be distinguished by using the full-length ITS barcode as compared to either the ITS1 or ITS2 regions alone.

Psathyloma, a new genus in Hymenogastraceae described from New Zealand.

A new genus Psathyloma is described based on collections of agarics from New Zealand. We describe two new species in the genus, Ps. leucocarpum and Ps.