Descriptions of five new species in subgenus from China, with molecular phylogeny of s.l.

Entoloma subgenus Claudopus is widely distributed, yet the taxonomy and systematics of its species are still poorly documented. In the present study, more than forty collections of were gathered in China and subsequently analysed, based on morphological and molecular data. The results revealed first a high level of species diversity of in China and second, there is a wide ecological range regarding the substrates and the habitats ranging from temperate, tropical to subalpine locations. Based on morphological and molecular evidence, five novel species from China are proposed, viz. , , , and . Molecular phylogeny of s.l. was also reconstructed, based on 187 representatives of s.l. by employing the combined ITS, LSU, mtSSU and RPB2 sequences. Ten monophyletic clades (, , , Cuboid-spored , "", , , , and ) were recovered, while 13 taxa could not be placed in any defined clades. The results confirmed that in a traditional morphological sense is not monophyletic and the -group, previously considered within , formed a separate clade; but section Claudopus and relatives of belong to a distinctive monophyletic group. Despite some monophyletic groups in s.l. being distinctive in both morphology and molecular phylogeny, they were still treated as subgenera of s.l. temporarily, because accepting them as genera will make s.l. paraphyletic.