Helvella arcto-alpina Harmaja

Terman, Şuheda Aldemir, Akçay, Mustafa Emre & Dizkirici, Ayten, 2025, Phylogenetic and taxonomic analyses reveal three new records of Helvella in Türkiye, Phytotaxa 694 (3), pp. 247-263 : 253

Helvella arcto-alpina Harmaja ( FIGURE 4 )

Description:—Apothecium cupulate, typically wider than it is tall, that becomes more prominent with age, 10–20 mm high, 10–50 mm broad, hymenium smooth, dark ocher when young ( FIGURE 4A ), later dark brown to blackish ( FIGURE 4B ), margin villose and sometimes with distinct white hairs, inrolled initially, expanding at maturity, receptacle surface paler than hymenium, dark cream to brownish, slightly more coarsely pubescent to villose, more or less sharp, mostly indistinctly double-edged, branching upwards, mostly reaching about halfway along pileus, at times restricted to lower part of pileus. Stipe poorly to moderately differentiated, 3–5 mm long, 5–10 mm broad, solid or with few chambers, evidently ribbed, with ribs that may have sharp or blunt edges and minimal branching or merging, ochre when fresh, cream to white when dry, with less prominence, somewhat tapered to base, surface pubescent or finely pubescent ( Figs 4A, B ). Ectal excipulum brownish, pigment deposits in the cell wall and cytoplasm. Medullary excipulum hyaline. Asci 210–300 × 14–19 μm, pleurorhynchous base, 8-spored, uniseriate, subcylindrical to clavate. Paraphyses filiform, septate, somewhat branched, 2–4 μm broad, slightly exceeding the asci, content pale brown to medium brown, ± homogeneous, apex apparently enlarged, 4–7 μm broad, weakly to moderately cyanophilic ( Figs 4F, G, H ). Ascospores (16)17–21 (22) × 11–13.5 μm, Q = (1.4) 1.5–1.7 (1.8), broadly ellipsoidal, hyaline, smooth-wall and uniguttulate ( Figs 4C, D, E ).

Specimens examined: — Türkiye, Erzurum-Kars province, Sarıkamış district, under conifer trees, 40°16’20”N 42°27’30”E 2373 m, 07.06.2021, ME 127, VANF 7893.

Habitat and distribution: —In the subalpine to alpine zones of high-altitude countries such as Sweden and Norway, it often grows in groups among herbaceous plants such as Dryas and Braya spp. ( Harmaja 1977, Skrede et al. 2017).

Notes: — Harmaja (1977) described Helvella arcto-alpina based on detailed analyses of H. acteabulum collections and provided a morphological, anatomical and ecological comparison of the two species. According to Harmaja, the concept of H. acetabulum is a large, pale, early southern species, while H. arcto-alpina is characterized as a small, dark, late arctic-alpine species. The caps of H. acetabulum can reach up to 8 (12) cm in diameter, whereas the cap of H. arcto-alpina is up to 2 cm in diameter. The collection of specimens from the Erzurum-Kars region, the highest altitude area in Eastern Anatolia of Türkiye and close to the alpine zone boundary, supports our identification as H. arcto-alpina . Skrede (2017) further established that H. arcto-alpina is phylogenetically distinct from H. acetabulum based on several nucleotide variations in the TEF 1-α and LSU sequences. In the current study, similar results were observed; with H. arcto-alpina and H. acetabulum consistently grouped together in all generated phylogenetic trees ( FIGURES 1 and S1–S 3 ) but discriminated from each other by 25 variations in ITS, 30 in LSU and 19 in TEF 1-α data.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bayesian phylogenetic tree constructed using the concatenated (ITS+LSU+TEF1-α) dataset. Bootstrap values (left,>70) and posterior probability values (right,>0.90) are indicated at the nodes.The newly examined Helvella specimens were denoted by an asterisk (*), and the type species was indicated by a double asterisk (**)

FIGURE 3. Helvella rivularis A. Ascomata. B. ascus and paraphyses in KOH. C. ascus and paraphyse tips stained with Congo red. D. pleurorhynchous ascus base stained with Congo red. ascospores in distilled water. E. ascospores stained with Congo red. F. ascospores stained with lactophenol blue. G. ascospores in distilled water.

FIGURE 4. Helvella arcto-alpina A. Fresh ascomata. B. dried ascomata. C. ascospores in KOH. D. ascospores stained with Congo red. E. ascospores stained with lactophenol blue. F. ascus and paraphyses in Melzer’s reagent. G. ascus stained with lactophenol blue H. pleurorhynchous ascus base stained with Congo red.