Mycena lamprocephala, a new luminescent species from the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

A luminescent fungus growing on decaying leaves and sticks was collected in terra-firme forest at the upper Cuieiras river, Amazonas, Brazil. Morphological study and phylogenetic analysis (based on ITS+LSU data) confirmed it as a new species of Mycena. Mycena lamprocephala sp. nov. is characterized macroscopically by small, thin, basidiomata with an olivaceous brown pileus and glutinous stipe, and microscopically by diverticulate pleurocystidia, ramose cheilocystidia, and thin, diverticulate and branching pileipellis hyphae. The luminescence of the pileus and of the mycelium in the substrate is typically green and sometimes pulsating. This is the third luminescent species of Mycenaceae described from the Amazon Forest.