Scleroderma zijinshanense Kun L. Yang, Jia Y. Lin, Xia Chen & Zhu L. Yang, 2025

(3.4) Scleroderma zijinshanense Kun L. Yang, Jia Y. Lin, Xia Chen & Zhu L. Yang , sp. nov.

( Fig. 20 View FIGURE 20 )

Registration identifier:— FN572392

Etymology:— Referring to the type locality.

Diagnosis:— Differing from other species in sect. Reticulatae known in Asia by the tiny to small basidiomata with felty to granular, coffee red to coffee-bean brown squamules.

Type:— China, Jiangsu Province, Nanjing City, Xuanwu District, Zijinshan Mountain , 32°04'57"N, 118°50'09"E, elevation 39 m, August 11, 2023, Xia Chen, Jia Y. Lin & Kun L. Yang, ChenXia249 - S23366 ( HKAS145951 , holotype (deposited in the Herbarium of Cryptogams in Kunming Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences; ITS: PV059129 ; nrLSU: PV054250 ); GoogleMaps HTBM1477 , isotype) GoogleMaps .

Description:— Basidiomata tiny to small, 7–26 mm in diameter, 7–23 mm in height without a stipe or including a stipe 3–6 mm long, subglobose to tuberiform; odor fungal; taste unknown. Peridium leathery, 0.25–0.5 mm thick, merino white (#F9F5EC) to pale dirty orange (#FAF4E3), without a color change after damaged, with felty to granular, coffee red (#7B5B4E) to coffee-bean brown (#483625) squamules. Gleba compact at first, becoming pulverulent, ceramic white (#FEFEFA), flint brown (#736960) to dull black (#0B0C0E). Basal rhizomorphs moderately abundant, whitish.

Basidiospores {40/1/1} 12–16 (16.5) [13.88 ± 1.09, 13.50] µm in diameter including ornamentation, mostly globose, rarely subglobose, thick-walled, with reticulate ornamentation 1.5–2.5 µm high, brownish to purplish. Basidia 25–40 × 5.5–7 μm, clavate, four-spored, thin-walled, nearly colorless. Gleba trama composed of 2–4.5 μm wide, thin-walled to slightly thick-walled, nearly colorless to slightly brownish, compact, moderately branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae with clamp connections. Peridial squamules composed of 2.5–6 μm wide, slightly thick-walled, brownish, moderately compact, moderately to frequently branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae with clamp connections. Peridial trama composed of 3–6.5 μm wide, slightly thick-walled, nearly colorless to slightly brownish, compact, moderately to frequently branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae with clamp connections.

Habits and distribution:— Gregarious, on soil, in subtropical forests, associated with plants of Cupressaceae and Fagaceae . Currently known from Asia ( China) with molecular evidence.

Other collections examined:— China, Jiangsu Province, Nanjing City, Xuanwu District, Zijinshan Mountain , 32°04'57"N, 118°50'09"E, elevation 39 m, May 30, 2023, Xia Chen, Jia Y. Lin & Kun L. Yang, ChenXia248 - S23103 ( HTBM0346 ) GoogleMaps ; same location, August 11, 2023, Xia Chen, Jia Y. Lin & Kun L. Yang, ChenXia612 - S23376 ( HTBM1487 ) GoogleMaps .

Notes:— This species looks similar to Scleroderma nastii and its allies in macromorphology, but the basidiospore ornamentation can easily distinguish them.