Helvella kunmingensis T.S. Li & Q. Zhao, 2025

Li, Tai-Shun, Yang, Yan-Yan, Yu, Feng-Ming, Li, Cui-Jin-Yi, Xu, Rong-Ju, Yang, Hu-Hua, Zhou, De-Qun & Zhao, Qi, 2025, Two new species of Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizales) from Southwestern China, Phytotaxa 684 (2), pp. 219-231 : 224-225

Helvella kunmingensis T.S. Li & Q. Zhao , sp. nov. FIGURE 2 Index Fungorum number: IF903276

Diagnosis: Pileus shallowly cupulate to cupulate when young, irregularly lobed to discoid when mature, hymenium greyish black, pubescent receptacle surface grey to dark grey, pubescent terete stipe white to greyish white. Asci 250–320 × 11–14 μm, ellipsoid ascospores 17–21 × 10–12.5 μm.

Etymology:— The specific epithet is proposed because of the type locality being Kunming City of the fungus.

Holotype:— CHINA, Yunnan Province, Kunming City, Wuhua District, Miaogao Temple , alt. 2,250 m, under a Quercus forest, 31 Aug. 2024, Tai-Shun Li 391 ( HKAS 145326 ).

Apothecia 2.5–4.5 cm high, 1–3 cm broad, shallowly cupulate to cupulate when young, irregularly lobed to discoid when mature; margin slightly undulate; hymenium greyish black, becoming brown when dried; receptacle surface densely pubescent, grey to dark grey when fresh, becoming brown when dried. Stipe 1.5–3 cm long, 3–5 mm in diam., terete, internally solid, densely pubescent, white to greyish white, becoming greyish brown when dried, with white base. Medullary excipulum 190–290 μm in thickness, composed of 4–8 μm in diam., hyaline, thick-walled cells of textura intricata, J-. Ectal excipulum 100–210 μm in thickness, comprised of hyaline to pale brown cells of textura angularis, terminal cells 20–33 × 10–18 μm, J-. Stipitipellis 170–210 μm, comprised of hyaline cells of textura angularis, terminal cells 20–33 × 11–16 μm, J-. Asci 250–320 × 11–14 μm, 8-spored, pleurorhynchous, subcylindrical to clavate. Paraphyses 4–5 μm in diam., filiform, slightly exceeding the asci, apex slightly enlarged, 4–7 μm in diam., brown, blue in cotton blue, J-. Ascospores [30/4/2, in H 2 O] (16–) 17–21 (–21.5) × 10–12.5 (–13) μm [ Q = 1.58–1.82, Q = 1.7 ± 0.07], ellipsoid, smooth-walled, with one large oil drop in central when mature.

Habitat:— Scattered or gregarious on the ground in the Quercus forest.

Material examined: — CHINA, Yunnan Province, Kunming City, Wuhua District, Miaogao Temple, alt. 2,250 m, under a Quercus forest, 31 Aug. 2024, Tai-Shun Li 395 ( HKAS 145327).

Notes:— Helvella kunmingensis is characterized by its greyish black and cupulate to discoid apothecia, pubescent receptacle surface, white to greyish white terete stipe and ellipsoid ascospores. In our phylogenetic analysis, H. kunmingensis is nested in the fibrosa-macropus lineage and is a sister branch to H. orentitomentosa ( Fig. 1 ). In morphological characteristics, the hymenium of H. kunmingensis is greyish black, while that of H. orentitomentosa is grey ( Yu et al. 2023). Microscopically, H. kunmingensis has longer asci (250–320 μm vs. 210–250 μm) and narrower paraphyses apex (4–7 μm vs. 8–11.5 μm) than H. orentitomentosa ( Yu et al. 2023) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree generated from combined ITS, nrLSU, tef-1α, and hsp90 sequenced dataset.Maximum likelihood bootstrap (ML-BP) ≥ 70% and Bayesian posterior probabilities (BI-PP) ≥ 0.90 are indicated above the nodes.Specimen vouchers are noted after the species names. New samples collected in this study are indicated in red. Type specimens are in bold.

FIGURE 2. Helvella kunmingensis. a–c Typical mature specimens (a–b HKAS 145327; c HKAS 145326, holotype); d Receptacle surface; e Stipitipellis; f Asci and paraphyses; g–j Asci; k–p Ascospores. Scale bars: a–c = 2 cm; d–j = 100 μm; k–p = 10 μm.