title: Four new species in Leucoagaricus (Agaricaceae, Basidiomycota) from Asia.
abstract: The genus Leucoagaricus has been well studied in Europe. However, species diversity of Leucoagaricus in Asia remains poorly known, especially in the mountains of southwestern China, a hot spot for biodiversity. Based on morphological characters and molecular data, four new species are described, La. asiaticus, La. subcrystallifer, La. subpurpureolilacinus and La. truncatus. Detailed morphological descriptions, drawings of microstructures for novel taxa and comparisons with closely allied taxa are provided. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and region 6-7 of the gene for the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (rpb2) sequences show that the novel taxa are nested within a well-supported clade jointly formed by members of Leucoagaricus section Rubrotincti and subgenus Sericeomyces.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, People's Republic of China zaiweige@gmail.com fungi@mail.kib.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zai-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, People's Republic of China zaiweige@gmail.com fungi@mail.kib.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhu L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Fungal Biology and Systematics Lab, Department of Botany, University of the Punjab, Quaid e Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Tayyaba
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qasim
authors.affiliation: Fungal Biology and Systematics Lab, Department of Botany, University of the Punjab, Quaid e Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.affiliation: Fungal Biology and Systematics Lab, Department of Botany, University of the Punjab, Quaid e Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Khalid
authors.affiliation: 111 Koshland Hall 3102, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-3102.
authors.forename: Else C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Vellinga
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D048690:Fruiting Bodies, Fungal; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021901:DNA, Intergenic
keywords: Agaricales; Leucoagaricus; Leucocoprinus; new taxa; taxonomy