Phylogenetic Studies of Terfezia pfeilii and Choiromyces echinulatus (Pezizales) support new genera for southern African truffles: Kalaharituber and Eremiomyces

Yael Ferdman, Sharon Aviram, Nurit Bejerano, James M. Trappe, Varda Kagan-Zur

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ITS region including the 5.8S rRNA gene as well as the 5′ end of the 28S rRNA gene of hypogeous Pezizaceae and Tuberaceae were studied to clarify the generic placement of two southern African desert truffles, Terfezia pfeilii and Choiromyces echinulatus. The results show that neither species belongs in the genus to which it has been assigned on the basis of morphological characters. As expected, two Choiromyces spp. grouped close to the representative of the Tuberaceae (Tuber melanosporum). However, C. echinulatus diverged from the other Choiromyces species and emerged near members of the genus Terfezia, being even closer to that genus than T. pfeilii. Two new genera and new species combinations, Kalahari tuber gen. nov. with K. pfeilii (syn. T. pfeilii) comb. nov. and Eremiomyces gen. nov. with E. echinulatus (syn. C. echinulatus) comb. nov. are therefore introduced to accomodate these taxa. Both genera are closely related to Terfezia, and thus are placed in the Pezizaceae.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)237-245
Number of pages9
JournalMycological Research
Volume109
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Genetics
  • Plant Science

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