Phylogenetic Analysis Reveals Four New Species of Otidea from China

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Otidea is a remarkable genus of ascomycetes. Members of the genus are diverse in ascomatal form, with split to entire, sessile to stipitate, cupulate to ear-shaped epigeous apothecia, as well as closed, solid ascomata in hypogeous taxa. They are distributed in the temperate to arctic-alpine regions of the northern hemisphere. China, located in the northern hemisphere, has a vast temperate zone, and a lot of new species of Otidea have been proposed recently. In this study, some specimens deposited in Chinese fungus herbaria and one newly collected Otidea specimen from northern China were studied using morphological and phylogenetic methods. The results indicate the presence of nine phylogenetic species of Otidea within the sample, four of them are described as new species, namely O. bomiensis, O. gongnaisiensis, O. hanzhongensis, and O. shennongjiana. Recognizing these new species will increase knowledge of species resources of Otidea in China. ABSTRACT: The emergence of molecular systematics has greatly helped researchers to identify fungal species. China has abundant Otidea species resources, and a number of new species of Otidea have been recently proposed. However, many old specimens in herbaria are mainly identified by morphology rather than molecular methods. In this study, 11 specimens deposited in Chinese herbaria and one newly collected Otidea species from northern China were identified based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses. Four gene fragments (ITS, LSU, rpb2, and tef1-α) were used to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of species within Otidea. A total of nine phylogenetic species are recognized, of which four are described as new species, namely O. bomiensis, O. gongnaisiensis, O. hanzhongensis, and O. shennongjiana. Among the known species were O. aspera and O. sinensis.