title: Species recognition and cryptic species in the Tuber indicum complex.
abstract: Morphological delimitation of Asian black truffles, including Tuber himalayense, T. indicum, T. sinense, T. pseudohimalayense, T. formosanum and T. pseudoexcavatum, has remained problematic and even phylogenetic analyses have been controversial. In this study, we combined five years of field investigation in China with morphological study and DNA sequences analyses (ITS, LSU and β-tubulin) of 131 Tuber specimens to show that T. pseudohimalayense and T. pseudoexcavatum are the same species. T. formosanum is a separate species based on its host plants and geographic distribution, combined with minor morphological difference from T. indicum. T. sinense should be treated as a synonym of T. indicum. Our results demonstrate that the present T. indicum, a single described morphological species, should include at least two separate phylogenetic species. These findings are of high importance for truffle taxonomy and reveal and preserve the richness of truffle diversity.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shun-Xing
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Pei-Gui
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000363:Agaricales / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D002965:Classification; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal