Biological Species in Pleurotus
INTERSTERILITY GROUP
ISG XIII. Pleurotus albidus (Berk.) Pegler, Kew Bull., Addit. ser. 10 (1983) 219
Nomenclatural history: Lentinus albidus Berkeley. 1843. Hooker’s J. Bot. 2: 633.
Taxonomic history: Originally based on a specimen from Minas Gerais, Brazil (Garner X.1840), the species epithet was allowed to remain inactive. Recently, Vilgalys & Sun (1993) obtained a DNA sequence from an unidentified Pleurotus also from Brazil. In their numbering system, this sequence was referred to as “ISG XIII Brazil.”
During fieldwork in Costa Rica, an unidentified Pleurotus was collected and cultured, but remained in the Tennessee culture collection as “Pleurotus sp.” Later, Dr. Edgardo Albertó (Buenos Aires, Argentina) reported (pers. comm.) on a cornucopioid Pleurotus fruiting in the vicinity of Buenos Aires. The photos of his organism closely resembled those of the Costa Rican fungus, and the monoaryons of the two mushrooms were found to be sexually compatible.
Dr. Rytas Vilgalys supplied an ITS sequence for his “Brazil,” and that sequence matched the unidentified Central and South American fungus. A survey of Pleurotus type specimens at Kew (by RHP) revealed that basidiomata of Lentinus albidus were morphologically indistinguishable from those of the American unknown, and the appropriate transfer of the species epithet to Pleurotus was made (Albertó et al., 2002)
Mating system: Tetrapolar (see Albertó et al., 2002).
Self-cross: Performed with three collections (data not published).
Phylogenetic placement: Vilgalys & Sun (1994) placed their “Brazil” within the P. ostreatus group (i.e. monomitic, pleurotoid basidiomata). Albertó et al. (2002) confirmed this ITS placement using four collections.
Distribution: Caribbean (Trinidad), Central America (Costa Rica), South American (Brazil, Argentina).
References:
Vilgalys, R., and B.L. Sun. 1994. Ancient and recent patterns of geographical speciation in the oyster mushroom Pleurotus revealed by phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal DNA sequences. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 4599-4603.
Albertó, E.O., R.H. Petersen, K.W. Hughes, and B. Lechner. 2002. Miscellaneous notes on Pleurotus. Persoonia 18: 55-69.GenBank numbers: AF345558-AF345661