A phylogenetic approach to a global supraspecific taxonomy of <i>Cortinarius</i> (<i>Agaricales</i>) with an emphasis on the southern mycota

Abstract

A section-based taxonomy of <i>Cortinarius</i>, covering large parts of the temperate North and South Hemispheres, is presented. Thirty-seven previously described sections are reviewed, while another forty-two sections are proposed as new or as new combinations. Twenty additional clades are recovered but not formally described. Furthermore, six new or combined species names are introduced, and one species is neotypified. The structure is supported by morphological characters and molecular evidence, based on two (nrITS and nrLSU) and four (nrITS, nrLSU, <i>rpb1</i> and <i>rpb2</i>) loci datasets and analysed by Maximum Likelihood methods (PhyML, RAxML). Altogether 789 <i>Cortinarius</i> samples were included in the study.