New insights confirming the presence of Myriostoma coliforme in Italy.

The genus Myriostoma , until recently regarded as monotypic, is nowadays considered to be a polytypic genus, in which six species with a distinct geographic distribution have been distinguished. Myriostoma coliforme has been demonstrated to be restricted to the Holarctic realm. The main objective of the present study is to identify new finds from Umbria and Tuscany. Based on both macro- and micro-morphological features they were identified to be M. coliforme s. str., which was also confirmed by molecular analysis (ITS nrDNA). Thanks to this investigation this rather rare saprotroph has shown to be present at a few sites and seems to be extinct at some others. A continuing decrease in the already small total population size is foreseen. An assessment at the regional level proposes the IUCN category Near Threatened.