Agaricales » Pseudoclitocybaceae

Harmajaea

Harmajaea Dima, P. Alvarado & Kekki, in Alvarado et al., Fungal Diversity. 90:109-133 (2018)

Etymology: Dedicated to Dr. Harri Harmaja because he was the first who reported a species of this genus from Europe, and also because of his huge contribution to the knowledge of clitocyboid fungi.

Diagnosis: large fleshy species with convex pileus, dry, smooth or subscaly surface at centre, pale yellowish, pale beige to brown or dark brown, not hygrophanous; spores small, 4.5–6 x 3–3.8 µm, ovoid to cylindrical, faintly amyloid, not cyanophilous. Hymenophoral trama regular. Thromboplerous hyphae abundant in subpellis and hymenial trama. Clamp connections absent in basidiome, scattered in mycelium. Smell and taste none. Saprobic, on thick forest litter. Northern Hemisphere, present in North America and North Europe.

 

Index Fungorum number: IF823306

Type species: Harmajaea harperi (Murrill) Dima & P. Alvarado, in Alvarado et al., Fungal Diversity. 90:109-133 (2018)

Notes: This new genus Harmajaea differs from Clitopaxillus because it completely lacks clamp connections or “false’’ clamps, has a slenderer stipe, and a more depressed pileus. Clitocybe harperi was first reported from Europe by Harmaja (1969), who also transferred it to Rhodocybe (Harmaja 1978, 1979) on the account of wrinkled spores under SEM and lack of clamps. The present results show that collections identified as C. harperi from North America and Scandinavia cluster on a single clade sister to Pseudoclitocybe, Clitopaxillus and Musumecia. Harmajaea is characterized by a complete absence of clamps in the basidiome (present in the mycelium of H. guldeniae and H. wellsiae), and a spectacular abundance of yellowish, frequently branched thromboplerous hyphae in the hymenophore and subpellis. Macroscopically, some Harmajaea species recall Atractosporocybe because of its pale colors and dry cap, grooved pileus at margin, and faintly decurrent gills, but the latter has fusoid spores, more greyish tinges and a strong fishy smell (Gulden 2006). Clitopaxillus can look similar, but has deeply decurrent, ‘‘paxilloid’’ lamellae. Three distinct genetic lineages of Harmajaea were found in the present work, two of them are identified with the existing species C. harperi and C. wellsii, and a third one is Harmajaea guldeniae.

 

Species

Harmajaea guldeniae Dima, P.-A. Moreau, P. Alvarado & Kekki 2018

Harmajaea harperi (Murrill) Dima & P. Alvarado 2018

Harmajaea wellsiae (H.E. Bigelow) P. Alvarado, Kekki & P.-A. Moreau 2018

 

Reference:

Alvarado, P; Moreau, P.A; Dima, B; Vizzini, A; Consiglio, G; Moreno, G; Setti, L; Kekki, T; Huhtinen, S; Liimatainen, K; Niskanen, T. 2018. Pseudoclitocybaceae fam. nov. (Agaricales, Tricholomatineae), a new arrangement at family, genus and species level. Fungal Diversity. 90:109-133

 

Gulden G (2006) Clitocybe harperi—a rare Clitocybe species in Europe. Agarica 26:65–68

 

Harmaja H (1969) The genus Clitocybe (Agaricales) in Fennoscandia. Karstenia 10:5–121

 

Harmaja H (1978) New species and combinations in the pale-spored Agaricales. Karstenia 18:29–30

 

Harmaja H (1979) Type studies in Clitocybe 3. Karstenia 19:22–24

 

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