Tuber mohedanoi Ant. Rodr. & Morte
Persoonia 49: 324–325 (2022)
Etymology:
Named after Justo Muñoz Mohedano for his contribution to the knowledge of hypogeous fungi.
Macroscopic characters:
Ascomata: hypogeous, 0.5–4 cm, pale brown, subglobose, sometimes lobed, fissured in age.
Peridium: 200–500 μm thick, composed of hyaline, agglutinated, interwoven hyphae (textura intricata).
Gleba: firm, solid, whitish at first, becoming light brown to dark brown at maturity, marbled with numerous, branching, white and dark veins.
Odour: mild, pleasant.
Habitat:
Tuber mohedanoi forms mycorrhizae with Quercus ilex subsp. ballota in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. The species occurs from May to November.
Notes:
Tuber mohedanoi is a pale brown truffle that clusters in the rufum clade, and is characterised by its smooth peridium, brown gleba marbled with white and dark veins and spiny spores. Tuber mohedanoi resembles T. nitidum (89 % similarity of ITS sequence), but in addition to genetic differences, T. nitidum differs by having a basal cavity, peridium with cellular structure in the outermost layer and smaller spores (Ceruti et al. 2003). Tuber requienii also resembles T. mohedanoi but it has a papillose peridium and lacks dark veins (Tulasne & Tulasne 1851). Tuber zambonelliae, another similar species (96 % similarity of ITS sequence), has larger spores with shorter spines (Crous et al. 2021).
Microscopic characters:
Asci: inamyloid, 60–90 × 40–55 μm excluding stalk, pyriform to clavate or subglobose, with a long or short stalk arising from a crozier, 20–60 μm long, walls 1–2 μm thick, 1–4(–5)-spored.
Ascospores: 19–40 × 14–27 μm, Q = 1.3–1.9, excluding ornamentation; at first hyaline, yellowish brown at maturity; ellipsoid to ovoid, ornamented with short, separate spines, 2–3(–4) μm long. Spore size varies with ascus spore number: 1-spored asci 38–40 × 24–27 μm, 2-spored 27–31 × 20–22 μm, 3-spored 25–28 × 18–21 μm, 4-spored 22–26 × 17–20 μm, and 5-spored 19–25 × 14–20 μm.
 |
Antonio Rodríguez trufamania@gmail.com antonio@trufamania.com |