Species of the genus Phaeohelotium (Leotiomycetes: Helotiaceae) are cup fungi that grow on decaying wood, leaves, litter, and directly on soil. Northern Hemisphere species are primarily found on litter and wood, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere the genus includes a mix of saprotrophs as well as taxa that grow on soil in association with ectomycorrhizal trees. The diversity of this genus has not been fully explored in southern South America. Here we describe two species from Chile, Phaeohelotium maiusaurantium sp. nov. and Ph. pallidum sp. nov., found on soil in Patagonian Nothofagaceae-dominated forests. We present macro- and micromorphological descriptions, illustrations, and molecular phylogenetic analyses. The two new species are placed in Phaeohelotium with high support in our 15-locus phylogeny as well as phylogenetic reconstructions based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene. Our ITS phylogeny places both Ph. maiusaurantium and Ph. pallidum in a well-supported subclade that includes ectomycorrhizal root tip samples from Australasia. Similar species can be separated from these new taxa based on morphological characteristics, biogeography, substrate, and sequence data. In addition, two unnamed species from Chilean Nothofagaceae forests (Phaeohelotium sp. 1 and Phaeohelotium sp. 2) are documented from scant collections and sequence data and await description until more material becomes available. Citation: Grupe II AC, Smith ME, Weier A, Healy R, Caiafa MV, Pfister DH, Haelewaters D, Quandt CA (2022). Two new species of Phaeohelotium (Leotiomycetes: Helotiaceae) from Chile and their putative ectomycorrhizal status. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 10: 231-249. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2022.10.10.

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO 80309 USA

Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology University of California Riverside Riverside CA 92521 USA

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Farlow Reference Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany Harvard University Cambridge MA 20138 USA

Department of Plant Pathology University of Florida Gainesville FL 32611 USA

Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia 37005 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Research Group Mycology Department of Biology Ghent University 9000 Ghent Belgium

See more in PubMed

Aime MC, Miller AN, Aoki T, PubMed PMC

Arendholz WR. (1979). Morphologisch-taxonomische Untersuchungen an blattbewohnenden Ascomyceten aus der Ordnung der Helotiales. Dissertation, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg.

Baral HO. (2016). Inoperculate discomycetes. In: Syllabus of plant families: A. Engler’s syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien part 1/2 (Jaklitsch W, Baral H-O, Lücking R,

Baral HO, Galán R, Lopez J,

Baral HO, Galán R, Platas G,

Baschien C, Marvanová L, Szewzyk U. (2006). Phylogeny of selected aquatic hyphomycetes based on morphological and molecular data. Nova Hedwigia 83: 311–352.

Baschien C, Tsui CK, Gulis V, PubMed

Boudier É. (1907). Histoire et classification des Discomycètes d’Europe. Librairie des Sciences Naturelles Paul Klincksieck, Paris.

Carbone I, White JB, Miadlikowska J, PubMed PMC

Cazabonne J, Bartrop L, Dierickx G, PubMed PMC

Chernomor O, von Haeseler A, Minh BQ. (2016). Terrace aware data structure for phylogenomic inference from supermatrices. Systematic Biology 65: 997–1008. PubMed PMC

Dennis RWG. (1958). Critical notes on some Australian

Dennis RWG. (1960). Some discomycetes described by Rick from South Brasil. Kew Bulletin 14: 114–125.

Dennis RWG. (1964). Remarks on the genus

Dennis RWG. (1971). New or interesting British microfungi. Kew Bulletin 25: 335–374.

Dennis RWG. (1974). New or interesting British microfungi, II. Kew Bulletin 29: 157–179.

Dennis RWG. (1981). British Ascomycetes. Verlag J. Cramer, Vaduz.

Dentinger BT, Didukh MY, Moncalvo JM. (2011). Comparing COI and ITS as DNA barcode markers for mushrooms and allies ( PubMed PMC

Díez J. (2005). Invasion biology of Australian ectomycorrhizal fungi introduced with

Dumont KP. (1981).

Edgar RC. (2004). MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research 32: 1792–1797. PubMed PMC

Ekanayaka AH, Hyde KD, Gentekaki E,

Gamundí I. (1962). Discomycetes inoperculados del Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi (Argentina). Darwiniana 12: 385–463.

Gamundí IJ, Messuti MI. (2006). A new species of PubMed

Gamundiì IJ, Minter DW, Romero AI,

Gamundí IJ, Romero AI. (1998).

Gardes M, Bruns TD. (1993). ITS primers with enhanced specificity for basidiomycetes—application to the identification of mycorrhizae and rusts. Molecular Ecology 2: 113–118. PubMed

Giachini AJ, Oliveira VL, Castellano MA,

Grigoriev IV, Nikitin R, Haridas S, PubMed PMC

Gross A, Han JG. (2015).

Gross A, Hosoya T, Zhao YJ,

Haelewaters D, Park D, Johnston PR. (2021). Multilocus phylogenetic analysis reveals that

Hamelin RC, Tanguay P, Uzunovic AA. (2013). Molecular detection assays of forest pathogens. Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Quebec, Canada.

Han JG, Shin HD. (2008).

Hayward J, Horton TR, Nuñez MA. (2015). Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities coinvading with PubMed

Heads M. (2006). Panbiogeography of

Hoang DT, Chernomor O, von Haeseler A, PubMed PMC

Hopple JS. (1994). Phylogenetic investigations in the genus Coprinus based on morphological and molecular characters. PhD dissertation, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Horton BM. (2011) Eucalypt decline and ectomycorrhizal fungal community ecology of Eucalyptus delegatensis forest. PhD dissertation, University of Tasmania, Australia.

Hosoya T, Sasagawa R, Hosaka K,

Hustad VP, Miller AN, Moingeon JM,

Hynson NA, Merckx VS, Perry BA,

Index Fungorum (2022). Search Index Fungorum. http://www.indexfungorum.org/names/Names.asp.

Iturriaga T, LoBuglio KF, Pfister DH. (2017). PubMed

Johnston PR. (2006). New Zealand’s nonlichenised fungi—where they came from, who collected them, where they are now. National Science Museum Monographs 34: 37–49.

Johnston PR. (2019). DOI

Johnston PR, Park D. (2013). The phylogenetic position of

Johnston PR, Quijada L, Smith CA, PubMed PMC

Kalyaanamoorthy K, Minh BQ, Wong TKF, PubMed PMC

Kanouse BB. (1935). Notes on new or unusual Michigan discomycetes. II. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences 20: 65–78.

Kirchmair M, Neuhauser S, Buzina W, PubMed

Kohler A, Kuo A, Nagy LG, PubMed

Korf RP. (1959). Japanese discomycete notes IX-XVI. Bulletin of the National Science Museum Tokyo 45: 389–400.

Kowalski T, Bilañski P. (2019).

Kraisitudomsook N, Healy RA, Mujic AB, PubMed

Kraisitudomsook N, Healy RA, Pfister DH, PubMed PMC

Kuhar F, Smith ME, Mujic A, PubMed

Lebeuf R, Alexandrova AV, Cerna-Mendoza A,

Leenurm K, Raitviir A, Raid R. (2000). Studies in the ultrastructure of

Linder HP, Crisp MD. (1995). PubMed

Liu YL, Whelen S, Hall BD. (1999). Phylogenetic relationships among ascomycetes: evidence from an RNA polymerase II subunit. Molecular Biology and Evolution 16: 1799–1808. PubMed

Malloch D, Sigler L, Hambleton S,

Matheny PB, Liu YJ, Ammirati JF, Hall BD. (2002). Using RPB1 sequences to improve phylogenetic inference among mushrooms ( PubMed

Miller MA, Pfeiffer W, Schwartz T. (2010). Creating the CIPRES Science Gateway for inference of large phylogenetic trees. Proceedings of the Gateway Computing Environments Workshop 14 Nov. 2010: 1–8. New Orleans, Louisiana.

Miśkiewicz A. (2000). Rare, threatened and new for Poland macromycetes found in Bukowiec reserve (W Carpathians). Acta Mycologica 35: 197.

Nguyen LT, Schmidt HA, von Haeseler A, PubMed PMC

Nouhra E, Kuhar F, Truong C, PubMed

Peterson KR, Pfister DH, Bell CD. (2010). Cophylogeny and biogeography of the fungal parasite PubMed

Quandt CA, Haelewaters D. (2021). Phylogenetic advances in

Queloz V, Grünig CR, Berndt R,

Raitviir A, Sharma MP. (1984). Some new species of

Rodway L. (1925). Tasmanian Discomycetes. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1924: 90–122.

Schmitt I, Crespo A, Divakar PK, PubMed PMC

Skrede I, Engh IB, Binder M, PubMed PMC

Stiller JW, Hall BD. (1997). The origin of red algae: Implications for plastid evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 94: 4520–4525. PubMed PMC

Svrček M. (1976). New or less known discomycetes. III. Česká Mykologie 30: 8–16.

Svrček M. (1983). New or less known discomycetes XXII. Česká Mykologie 37: 65–71.

Svrček M. (1984). A taxonomic revision of inoperculate discomycetes described by J. Velenovský in the genus

Svrček M. (1987). New or less known Discomycetes. XV. Nové nebo méně známé diskomycety. XV. Ceska Mykol, 41: 16–25.

Svrček M. (1992). New or less known discomycetes. XXIII. Česká Mykologie 46: 149–162.

Svrček M, Matheis W. (1979). Uber einen schweizerischen Fund von

Tedersoo L, May TW, Smith ME. (2010). Ectomycorrhizal lifestyle in fungi: global diversity, distribution, and evolution of phylogenetic lineages. Mycorrhiza 20: 217–263. PubMed

Tedersoo L, Pärtel K, Jairus T, PubMed

Tedersoo L, Smith ME. (2013). Lineages of ectomycorrhizal fungi revisited: foraging strategies and novel lineages revealed by sequences from belowground. Fungal Biology Reviews 27: 83–99.

Thiers B. (2022). Index Herbariorum: A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ih/.

Truong C, Mujic AB, Healy R, PubMed

Truong C, Sánchez-Ramírez S, Kuhar F, PubMed

Velenovský J. (1934). Monographia Discomycetum Bohemiae 1: 1–436.

Vilgalys R, Hester M. (1990). Rapid genetic identification and mapping of enzymatically amplified ribosomal DNA from several PubMed PMC

Voglmayr H, Park MJ, Shin HD. (2011).

Weber NS, Trappe JM, Denison WC. (1997). Studies on western American

White T, Bruns TD, Lee S, Taylor J. (1990). Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications (Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ,

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Dai DQ,

Zanne AE, Abarenkov K, Afkhami ME, PubMed

Zhang YH, Zhuang WY. (2004). Phylogenetic relationships of some members in the genus

Zhao YJ, Hosaka K, Hosoya T. (2016). Taxonomic re-evaluation of the genus

Zheng HD, Zhuang WY. (2014).

Zheng HD, Zhuang WY. (2015). Five new species of

Zheng HD, Zhuang WY. (2019). Three new species of PubMed PMC

Zhuang WY, Zeng ZQ, Liu XX. (2016). Taxonomic revision of the genus