Pholita subflammans (Speg.) Sacc., Syll. Fung.

Pholita subflammans (Speg.) Sacc., Syll. Fung. 9: 91, 1891 ( Figs. 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3B View FIGURE 3 )

≡ Agaricus subflammans Speg., Boln. Acad. Nac. Cienc. Córdoba 11(1): 10, 1891.

= Pholiota baeosperma Singer , Sydowia 7: 217, 1953. Fide Horak (1967).

Neotype (designated here): — ARGENTINA, Tierra del Fuego: Est. Nueva Argentina , ad terram in silvis sub Nothofago antarctica , 11 Feb. 1950, leg. R. Singer M 180 ( LIL!).

Distribution and ecology:— Growing on humus of Andino-Patagonic forest from South America, from Tierra del Fuego to Neuquén provinces ( Spegazzini 1887a, Singer 1952, Singer & Digilio 1952, Niveiro & Albertó 2012 b) ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ).

Additional specimens examined:— ARGENTINA, Tierra del Fuego: Est. Nueva Argentina, in silvis nothofaginensis ( N. antarctica ) inter gramina ad terram, 16 Feb. 1950, R. Singer M 307 (LIL!) , Neuquén: Nahuel Huapi National Park, trail to Los Cántaros, on woody humus in woods, 16 Feb. 1960, R. Singer M 3019 (LIL!), Ib. Nahuel Huapi lake , Pto. Blest, in Nothofagus -Saxegothaea woods among herbaceous plants, on humus, 16 Feb. 1960, R. Singer M 3008 (LIL!) .

Remarks: The type material of P. subflammans deposited in LPS herbarium and originally described by Spegazzini (1887a) is lost (Chayle, pers. comm.). Horak (1967: 358), who reanalyzed the type material of P. subflammans , noted that the type specimen consisted of remnants in poor condition. For this reason, a collection made by Singer in 1950 and described in Singer (1952: 497) which is in good condition and was collected in the Estancia Nueva Argentina (Tierra del Fuego province), (the same place where the original collection was made by Spegazzini) is proposed as the neotype of this species.

A complete description of this species was realized by Singer (1952: 497) as P. subflammans , and Singer (1953: 217) and Singer & Digilio (1952: 339) as P. baeosperma Singer.

Pholiota baeosperma Singer was included in section Lubricae (Fr.) Singer because it does not have scales on the pileus surface ( Singer 1953: 217, Singer & Digilio 1952: 339). However, according to Horak (1967: 358) the latter is synonymous with P. subflammans , having lost the scales by the action of rain or high atmospheric humidity. As a consequence, the pileipellis hyphae walls become gelatinous and the scales are lost, as was also observed in P. kauffmaniana A. H. Sm. and P. flammans in the Northern Hemisphere ( Smith & Hesler 1968).