Rhodocybe indica – Facesoffungi number: FoF 02179

Rhodocybe indica K.N.A. Raj & Manim.

MycoBank MB 816841; Facesoffungi number: FoF02179

Etymology: The specific epithet refers to India, the country where this species was first observed.

Holotype: CAL 1323.

Basidiocarp small, mycenoid. Pileus 15 mm diam., broadly convex with a small umbo; surface brown (6E7/ OAC599) on and around the umbo, brownish-yellow (5C7/OAC790) towards the margin, weakly hygrophanous and becoming slightly paler, faintly pellucid-striate towards the margin, glabrous, somewhat tacky; margin slightly incurved and somewhat wavy. Lamellae narrowly adnate to adnate, subventricose, close, greyish-orange (6B3/OAC695), up to 3 mm wide, with lamellulae of 3–7 lengths; edge crenulate, concolourous with the sides. Stipe 30 x 2 mm, central, equal, slightly flexuous, cartilaginous, solid; surface brownish-yellow (5C7/OAC790), glabrous to the naked eye, finely pruinose all over under a lens; base with white mycelial cords. Odour and taste not distinctive. Basidiospores 6.5–8 x 5.5–7 (7.27 ± 0.49 x 6.1 ± 0.38) um, (Q = 1–1.3, Qm = 1.19), subglobose or lacrymoid, undulate-pustulate, with or without a suprahilar depression in profile view, 6 angled in polar view, hyaline, thin-walled. Basidia 18–33 x 7–8 um, narrowly clavate to clavate, pale yellow, thin-walled, 4-spored; sterigmata up to 5 um long. Lamella-edge heterogeneous. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia present as pseudocystidia. Pseudocystidia 24–40 x 4–9 um, scattered, fusiform, lanceolate or ventricose-rostrate, with glittering, yellow, granular contents, thin-walled. Lamellar trama subregular; hyphae 4–7 um wide, hyaline or pale yellow, thin-walled. Subhymenium inconspicuous. Pileus trama subregular; hyphae 5–14 um wide, pale yellow, thin-walled. Pileipellis an undifferentiated cutis, made up of closely septate and compactly arranged hyphae with widely scattered pileocystidia; hyphae 5–13 um wide, slightly gelatinised, with a pale brownish-yellow wall pigment and fine hyaline encrustations, thin- to slightly thick-walled. Pileocystidia 21–42 x 3–11 um, scattered, versiform: nettle hairshaped, narrowly fusiform or flexuous, hyaline or pale yellow, thin-walled. Stipitipellis a cutis, rarely disrupted by flaring out hyphae; hyphae 3–9 um wide, with a pale brownish-yellow wall pigment, thin-walled. Caulocystidia absent. Clamp connections not observed on any hyphae.

Habitat: on a decaying twig, solitary.

Specimens examined: INDIA, Kerala, Kollam District, Thenmala, Thenmala Forest, 17 August 2013, K. P. Deepna Latha DKP130 (CAL 1323, holotype).

Notes: Rhodocybe indica is well-characterized by its small basidiocarps with a brownish-yellow, umbonate pileus; subglobose or lacrymoid basidiospores; smaller, fusiform, lanceolate or ventricose-rostrate pseudocystidia; a pileipellis with pileocystidia and a stipitipellis lacking encrusted hyphae. Characters such as the centrally stipitate basidiocarps and the presence of pseudocystidia indicate the section Rhodocybe (Baroni 1981). Rhodocybe pruinosistipitata T.J. Baroni et al., a species reported from Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana (Henkel et al. 2010), is somewhat comparable to the present species because of a similar looking pileus, a pruinose stipe, adnate lamellae, somewhat similar sized basidiospores, abundant pseudocystidia and a similar habitat. However, R. pruinosistipitata has a longer stipe, pip-shaped basidiospores, larger, (GenBank AF261283; Identities = 853/884 (96 %)). Rhodocybe fallax (Que ´l.) Singer), belonging to the section Decurrentes (Baroni 1981), and differs from the present species in almost all macro- and micromorphological characters. In the resulting phylogenetic tree after the ML analysis, Rhodocybe indica, R. collybioides and R. caelata formed a distinct clade with significant support (73 % BS). Within this clade, R. indica is related to R. collybioides with weak support (67 % BS).