A new species of Hygrocybe subsect. Squamulosae from South China

Hygrocybe sparifolia sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis. It was collected from Nankunshan Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province, China. Macroscopically it has the combined characters of fibrillose pileus, shallow and sparse lamellae with pink to purply grayish brown discoloration when bruised, and microscopically has basidia and pileipellis with brown intracellular pigment. Phylogenetic analysis inferred from ITS sequences suggests that it is a distinct taxon neighboring H. caespitosa, H. griseobrunnea and H. melleofusca; the pileipellis made up of semi-erect to upswept hyphae makes it easily distinguished from H. brunneosquamulosa. (C) 2014 The Mycological Society of Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.