Fungal diversity in the Neotropics: update on the diversity and taxonomy of Hydnaceae in Costa Rica

Much progress documenting the diversity and relationships within the Hydnaceae has been made over the past decades. Nevertheless, the diversity of the family is far from completely known, especially in neotropical regions, which remain underexplored. Concentrated fieldwork to document the diversity and distribution of macrofungi in Costa Rica began in the late 1980s and continued through early 2000s. As most of the studies were morphology based, some species were identified only to genus level, provisionally named, or misidentified. This study provides morphological and molecular evidence of new species of Hydnaceae previously and newly collected in neotropical Quercus-dominated forests in Costa Rica. Molecular phylogenies support the proposal of five new species: a yellow chanterelle Ca. neotropicalis, three Craterellus species: Cr. griseohymeninus, sp. nov. Cr. minutibrunneus, sp. nov. and Cr. lamelligracilis, sp. nov. and a Hydnum repandum lookalike: Hydnum pallideflavum, sp. nov.