A new bioluminescent species of Mycena sect. Exornatae from Kerala State, India

Recent studies on the genus Mycena in Kerala State, India resulted in the discovery of a new species, herein described as M. deeptha. It has hallmarks of Mycena section Exornatae such as gelatinous pileipellis composed of hyphae that are covered with thorn-like excrescences, non-gelatinized stipitipellis, discoid stipe base and luminescent mycelium. A combination of characters such as larger basidiomata, fimbriate pileal margin composed of cells with elongate protrusion, cheilocystidia and caulocystidia with elongate apical projections, and the presence of detersile elements over the primordium, however, makes it unique within that section. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS rDNA sequences using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods support M. deeptha as a distinct species belonging to a clade containing M. chlorophos, a well-known luminescent species of sect. Exornatae. The ITS rDNA sequence of M. deeptha shows 99-100% similarity with those of two unidentified Mycena species (environmental samples) deposited in GenBank indicating that the new species may have a wider geographical distribution.