Plant Diversity ›› 2017, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (02): 89-93.DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2016.10.002

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Molecular and morphological data confirmed the presence of the rare species Mattirolomyces terfezioides in China

Xiaojin Wanga,b, Peigui Liua, Lihua Suna,b   

  1. a. Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China;
    b. Biological Sciences and Technology College, Baotou Teachers' College, Baotou 014030, China
  • Received:2016-05-18 Revised:2016-09-29 Online:2017-04-25 Published:2021-11-05
  • Contact: Lihua Sun
  • Supported by:
    We thank the curator of HMAS to arrange the loan of the specimens studied. We are grateful for Dr. X. H. Wang (Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China), who helped to revise the first draft and gave some valuable suggestions. This study was financed by the Joint Funds of the National Science Foundation of China and Yunnan Province Government (No. U1202262), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30470011, 31270075), the Local Project Y234011261 (Alxa League, Inner Mongolia) and Y21C211211 (Kunming, Yunnan Province), Key Laboratory of The Research Group of Systematics & Resources of Higher & Marco-Fungi, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 0806361121).

Abstract: Although the species Mattirolomyces terfezioides (≡ Terfezia terfezioides) has been recorded from China several times but it is really rare taxon with important ecological and economic value, the conspecificity with European material has never been tested by molecular data. We re-examined three specimens labelled as T. terfezioides, one as T. leonis and one as Terfezia sp. in the herbarium HMAS and obtained five ITS and three LSU sequences. Our morphological observation and DNA sequences show that one specimen (HMAS 83766) labelled as M. terfezioides turns out to be Choiromyces sp. and the other four are M. terfezioides. The ITS and (or) LSU sequences of the Chinese samples are identical with or with 99% similarity to those from the European samples, which fully confirms the presence of M. terfezioides in China. The species is currently known from northern China (Hebei Province, Beijing and Shanxi Province). This study shows that M. terfezioides has a Euroasia distribution other than European endemism and such distribution might be explained by the co-occurrence with the potential host tree Robinia pseudoacacia.

Key words: Black locust, Desert truffle, Pezizaceae, Taxonomy