title: Discovery or Extinction of New Scleroderma Species in Amazonia?
abstract: The Amazon Forest is a hotspot of biodiversity harboring an unknown number of undescribed taxa. Inventory studies are urgent, mainly in the areas most endangered by human activities such as extensive dam construction, where species could be in risk of extinction before being described and named. In 2015, intensive studies performed in a few locations in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest revealed three new species of the genus Scleroderma: S. anomalosporum, S. camassuense and S. duckei. The two first species were located in one of the many areas flooded by construction of hydroelectric dams throughout the Amazon; and the third in the Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, a protected reverse by the INPA. The species were identified through morphology and molecular analyses of barcoding sequences (Internal Transcribed Spacer nrDNA). Scleroderma anomalosporum is characterized mainly by the smooth spores under LM in mature basidiomata (under SEM with small, unevenly distributed granules, a characteristic not observed in other species of the genus), the large size of the basidiomata, up to 120 mm diameter, and the stelliform dehiscence; S. camassuense mainly by the irregular to stellate dehiscence, the subreticulated spores and the bright sulfur-yellow colour, and Scleroderma duckei mainly by the verrucose exoperidium, stelliform dehiscence, and verrucose spores. Description, illustration and affinities with other species of the genus are provided.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Botânica e Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.|Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Iuri G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Baseia
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bianca D B
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Noemia K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Divisão de Suporte às Estações e Reservas, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
authors.forename: João V C
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário de Altamira, Altamira, Pará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isadora F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: França
authors.affiliation: Fungus/Mushroom Resource and Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ushijima
authors.affiliation: Fungus/Mushroom Resource and Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan.
authors.forename: Nitaro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Micología, Real Jardín Botánico, RJB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1235-4418
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Martín
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001938:Brazil; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D065928:Forests; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal