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The Lepiotoid Clade

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Johnson & Vilgalys (1998; citation below) have compiled nuclear large subunit rDNA evidence to build a phylogram relating the species below in ways that would make Elias Fries roll over in his grave!

Johnson & Vilgalys caution that "analysis of the nLSU rDNA region alone, as presented here, is insufficient for drawing strong taxonomic inferences within the lepiotoid fungi" (977; my emphasis), citing low bootstrap values in many parts of the phylogram. Below are species included in their research, clustered according to their results, but with the phylogram's branches removed. Johnson & Vilgalys do not maintain that the species below are the only species that potentially belong in the lepiotoid clade, of course; the list simply represents the mushrooms they sampled. Species at MushroomExpert.Com are in bold type.

"Core Lepiotoid Fungi"

In short, Johnson & Vilgalys suggest that these species are closely related. Thus, the mushrooms in Agaricus, the Comati section of Coprinus (which includes, ironically, the type species for Coprinus, Coprinus comatus), and the rest of the mushrooms below belong together in what MushroomExpert.Com treats as Lepiota and Satellite Genera--which should probably be renamed the Agaricaceae. Whew!

"More Distant Outgroups"

If I understand correctly, some of the species below, like the Russula, were included in the experiment as "control" mechanisms--while others represent results demonstrating the mushrooms to be disassociated from the species above (for example, the Inky Caps do not join the same clade as the Shaggy Manes).


Reference

Johnson, J. & Vilgalys, R. (1998). Phylogenic systematics of Lepiota sensu lato based on nuclear large subunit rDNA evidence. Mycologia 90: 971-979.



Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2003, February). The lepiotoid clade. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lepiotoid_clade.html

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