First report of Morganella compacta (Agaricales, Lycoperdaceae) from South America

Abstract

Abstract-Morganella compacta is recorded for the first time from South America. This species is found in Northeastern Brazil growing on sandy soil of dune ecosystems. Detailed descriptions, illustrations of basidiomata and basidiospores SEM are given.

Morganella arenicola, a new species record from North and Northeast Brazil

“…Morganella arenicola was recently confused with M. compacta, which was registered for the first time for South America (Barbosa et al, 2011). However, a number of characteristics remain discrepant and make the real identity of the Brazilian collections suspicious.…”

“…Thus, a comparative study of the characteristics analyzed confirmed that the Brazilian specimens were distinct from the New Zealand specimens of Morganella compacta. The specimens considered by Barbosa et al (2011) actually belong to a distinct taxon, denominated here by M. arenicola. In addition to the Atlantic Forest, the distribution of this new taxon was widened to the Amazon Forest.…”

“…Only a short time ago was light shone on this interesting group of gasteroid fungi through the publishing of new records (Kreisel and Dring, 1967;Homrich, 1969;Barbosa et al, 2011) and new species (Cortez et al, 2007;Alfredo et al, 2012;Alves and Cortez, 2013) for the country, although review studies such as those of Ponce de Leon (1971) or Suárez and Wright (1996) from South America also included species of Morganella from Brazil. Taxonomic studies of very similar species require comparative analyses with type material in order to determine if they are in fact similar or not.…”

Revision of species previously reported from Brazil under Morganella

“…Although mainly cited from New Zealand, L. compactum has also been reported from Costa Rica (Calonge et al 2005), and from Brazil (Barbosa et al 2011); however, Brazilian specimens were misidentified. (Demoulin 1972a) and L. echinatum (3 6 mm long) (Demoulin 1982;Calonge 1996); also, the basidiospores are distinctive between them, the Brazilian species are mostly punctate [A] (although B can be found) versus the basidiospores verrucose [C] in these two species (Demoulin 1972a;1982).…”