Rediscovery of Dacrymyces pezizoides (Dacrymycetes, Basidiomycota) 80 years after its original description

Abstract

Dacrymyces pezizoides has been rediscovered for the first time since its original description in 1939. Dacrymycetous fruiting bodies recently collected from the dead branches of broad-leaved trees in Japan were identified as D. pezizoides based on their morphological characteristics, i.e., turbinate or discoid basidiocarps, hyphae without clamp connections, thick-walled marginal hyphae, and 3-septate basidiospores. Molecular phylogenetic analysis based on the LSU nrDNA and ITS regions revealed that D. pezizoides forms a clade with other Dacrymyces spp., such as D. stillatus and D. chrysospermus, and Guepiniopsis buccina. Dacrymyces pezizoides is considered to form basidiocarps in autumn on the dead branches of broad-leaved trees in warm-temperate areas of Japan.