Cortinarius species diversity in British Columbia and molecular phylogenetic comparison with European specimen sequences

Throughout the world, the diversity of fungi remains poorly characterized and Cortinarius is a classical example of a difficult, species-rich, and under-researched mushroom genus. Here, we sequenced and analyzed ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence barcodes from herbarium specimens to improve understanding of Cortinarius species diversity in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada. Starting with 962 specimen sequences, 617 from B.C. herbaria, we present a maximum likelihood tree showing 179 putative Cortinarius species in British Columbia. As a working definition, we considered a “species” to be a monophyletic clade that included a reliably identified reference sequence, with a maximum of 3% ITS sequence variation. If no reference sequence was available, “species” were groups sharing 97% or more sequence identity. By these criteria, 110 putative B.C. species matched European species and 12 B.C. species matched species exclusively found in the Americas. Of the 56 B.C. species that did not match an identified reference sequence, some may be new to science, while others likely represent described species without available sequences. By depositing sequences from B.C. specimens into GenBank and BOLD, and by providing our alignment to TreeBASE, we have supplied the resources necessary to improve accuracy in identifications of Cortinarius in future systematic and ecological studies.

IV.—The Search for Uintacrinus in England and Westphalia

It is just a score of years since the unstalked crinoid Uintacrinus was discovered, almost simultaneously, in the Niobrara Chalk of Kansas and the Lower Senonian of Westphalia. The American specimens were described by Grinnell and Meek, while the single European specimen was exhaustively discussed by Schlueter. Of recent years further specimens, in a better state of preservation, have been found in Kansas, and a slab purchased by the British Museum enabled me to make a more detailed study, the results of which were published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society (vol. 1893, pp. 974–1004, pls. liv–lvi, April, 1896). But as to the occurrence of Uintacrinus in Europe, our knowledge at the beginning of 1896 remained as in 1876; not even from Reckling-hausen, the original Westphalian locality, had another fragment been obtained. It may therefore be a surprise to many to learn that Uintacrinus is one of the commonest fossils of the Marsupites zone, not only in the Marlstone of Westphalia, but in the Chalk of our own island, and probably at the same horizon in a good many other countries.