Barcoding and Morphological Characterization of Mycena cupressina (Agaricales, Fungi), a Little-known and Controversially Treated Member of Section Supinae

Abstract

The author presents recent collections of  Mycena cupressina, a corticolous species on Cupressus sempervirens, described from the Mediterranean area and sometimes treated as conspecific with M. juniperina. The first ITS nrDNA sequence of the species from Balkan material was obtained. Its analysis demonstrated the affinity of the sequenced collection to section Supinae, although the results could not be unambiguously interpreted and suggest that in this section the ITS marker may be less informative, similarly to some other groupings of the genus. Description of M. cupressina is provided, based on Balkan collections. The studied Cupressus-affiliated specimens share smooth stipitipellis hyphae, deemed to be diagnostic character of the species, suggesting that for the time being the two are better retained as separate taxa. The first records for Bulgaria of four other species of the section, namely M. juniperina, M. meliigena, M. pseudocorticola  and M. supina, are also included.