Scleroderma lunare Kun L. Yang, Jia Y. Lin, Bin Chen & Zhu L. Yang, 2025

(3.2) Scleroderma lunare Kun L. Yang, Jia Y. Lin, Bin Chen & Zhu L. Yang , sp. nov.

( Fig. 18 View FIGURE 18 )

Registration identifier:— FN572391

Etymology:— Referring to the noble color of this fungus like the moon.

Diagnosis:— Differing from other species in sect. Reticulatae known in Asia by the small basidiomata 12–23 mm in diameter with palely colored squamules.

Type:— China, Zhejiang Province, Quzhou City, exact location unknown, June 13, 2023, Bin Chen & Kun L. Yang, S23139 ( HKAS145952 , holotype (deposited in the Herbarium of Cryptogams in Kunming Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences; ITS: PV059112 ; nrLSU: PV054238 ); HTBM0382 , isotype) .

Description:— Basidiomata small, 12–23 mm in diameter, 6–15 mm in height, subglobose to tuberiform, sessile; odor fungal; taste unknown. Peridium leathery, 0.5–1 mm thick, merino white (#F9F5EC), without a color change or turning reddish after damaged, with flaky to granular, concolorous or brick orange (#ECE2B4) to desert orange (#E8D7B0) squamules. Gleba compact at first, becoming pulverulent, ceramic white (#FEFEFA) to dull black (#0B0C0E). Basal rhizomorphs abundant, whitish.

Basidiospores {40/2/2} (13) 13.5–17 (18) [15.03 ± 1.23, 15.50] µm in diameter including ornamentation, mostly globose, rarely subglobose, thick-walled, with reticulate ornamentation 1–2.5 µm high, brownish to purplish, often surrounded by remnants of placental cells. Basidia collapsed. Gleba trama composed of 2–6 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 2–5.5 μm wide, slightly thick-walled, brownish, moderately compact, moderately to frequently branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae sometimes with clamp connections. Peridial trama composed of 3–7 μm wide, slightly thick-walled, nearly colorless to slightly brownish, compact, moderately to frequently branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae sometimes with clamp connections.

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

Other collection examined:— China, Zhejiang Province, Quzhou City, exact location unknown, July 7, 2023, Bin Chen & Kun L. Yang, S23294 ( HTBM1005 ).

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