Research Paper

A novel species of the genus Bolbitius (Bolbitaceae) from the Northwestern Himalaya of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Sandhya Rajput, Ayushi Mahajan, Komal Verma, Yash Pal Sharma

Published on: 09 July 2026

Page: 574 - 580

DOI: 10.6165/tai.2026.71.574

Abstract

A new species belonging to the genus Bolbitius (B. kishtwarensis) is proposed here from India based on the combination of unique macro- and micro-morphological features and molecular evidence. The novelty of this species is confirmed by nrITS-based phylogenetic study and its separate placement within the phylogenetic tree. This species was found on cow dung and distinguished by its basidiocarp having a pileus with a dark broad umbo, slightly viscid, non-glabrous, fibrillose surface, being brownish grey at periphery and dark brown towards the center. A comprehensive description, illustrations, comparisons with morphologically closely related taxa and phylogenetic analysis are presented here.

Keyword: Basidiomycota, Bolbitius kishtwarensis, coprophilous, macrofungi, phylogeny, systematics

Literature Cited

Altschul, S.F., Madden, T.L., Schaffer, A.A., Zhang, J., Zhang, Z., Miller, W., Lipman, D.J. 1997 Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: A new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acids Res. 25(17): 3389–3402.
DOI: 10.1093/nar/25.17.3389View Article Google Scholar

Arnolds, E. 2003 Notulae ad Floram Agaricinam Neerlandicam - XXXIX. Bolbitius. Persoonia 18: 201–214.

Arnolds, E. 2005 Bolbitius Fr. In: Noordeloos, M.E., Kuyper, T.W., Vellinga, E.C. (eds) Flora Agaricina Neerlandica, vol 6: 112–119. CRC Press, Boca Raton.

Atri, N.S., Kaur, A., Kaur, M. 2009 Three new records of coprophilous mushrooms of family Bolbitiaceae from India. Mushroom Res. 18(2): 51–56.

Berkeley, M.J., Broome, C.E. 1871 The Fungi of Ceylon. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 11(56): 494–567.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.1871.tb00163.xView Article Google Scholar

Bilgrami, K.S., Jamalludin, S., Rizwi, A.M. 1991 Fungi of India. List and References. Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi, India. pp. 798.

Clark, K., Karsch-Mizrachi, I., Lipman, D.J., Ostell, J., Sayers, E.W. 2016 GenBank. Nucleic Acids Res. 44(D1): D67–D72.
DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv1276View Article Google Scholar

Crous, P.W., Wingfield, M.J., Guarro, J., Hern?ndez-Restrepo, M., Sutton, D.A., Acharya, K., Barber, P.A., Boekhout, T., Dimitrov, R.A., Due?as, M., Dutta, A.K., Gen?, J., Gouliamova, D.E., Groenewald, M., Lombard, L., Morozova, O.V., Sarkar, J., Smith, M.TH., Stchigel, A.M., Wiederhold, N.P., Alexandrova, A.V., Antelmi, I., Armengol, J., Barnes, I., Cano-Lira, J.F., Casta?eda Ruiz, R.F., Contu, M., Courtecuisse, Pr.R., da Silveira, A.L., Decock, C.A., de Goes, A., Edathodu, J., Ercole, E., Firmino, A.C., Fourie, A., Fournier, J., Furtado, E.L., Geering, A.D.W., Gershenzon, J., Giraldo, A., Gramaje, D., Hammerbacher, A., He, X.-L., Haryadi, D., Khemmuk, W., Kovalenko, A.E., Krawczynski, R., Laich, F., Lechat, C., Lopes, U.P., Madrid, H., Malysheva, E.F., Mar?n-Felix, Y., Mart?n, M.P., Mostert, L., Nigro, F., Pereira, O.L., Picillo, B., Pinho, D.B., Popov, E.S., Rodas Pel?ez, C.A., Rooney-Latham, S., Sandoval-Denis, M., Shivas, R.G., Silva, V., Stoilova-Disheva, M.M., Telleria, M.T., Ullah, C., Unsicker, S.B., van der Merwe, N.A., Vizzini, A., Wagner, H.-G., Wong, P.T.W., Wood, A.R., Groenewald, J.Z. 2015 Fungal Planet description sheets: 320–370. Persoonia 34(1): 167–266.
DOI: 10.3767/003158515X688433View Article Google Scholar

Crous, P.W., Cowan, D.A., Maggs-K?lling, G., Yilmaz, N., Thangavel, R., Wingfield, M.J., Noordeloos, M.E., Dima, B., Brandrud, T.E., Jansen, G.M., Morozova, O.V., Vila, J., Shivas, R.G., Tan, Y.P., Bishop?Hurley, S., Lacey, E., Marney, T.S., Larsson, E., Le Floch, G., Lombard, L., Nodet, P., Hubka, V., Alvarado, P., Berraf?Tebbal, A., Reyes, J.D., Delgado, G., Eichmeier, A., Jordal, J.B., Kachalkin, A.V., Kub?tov?, A., Maci??Vicente, J.G., Malysheva, E.F., Papp, V., Rajeshkumar, K.C., Sharma, A., Spetik, M., Szab?ov?, D., Tomashevskaya, M.A., Abad, J.A., Abad, Z.G., Alexandrova, A.V., Anand, G., Arenas, F., Ashtekar, N., Balashov, S., Ba?ares, ?., Baroncelli, R., Bera, I., Biketova, A.Yu., Blomquist, C.L., Boekhout, T., Boertmann, D., Bulyonkova, T.M., Burgess, T.I., Carnegie, A.J., Cobo?Diaz, J.F., Corriol, G., Cunnington, J.H., da Cruz, M.O., Damm, U., Davoodian, N., de A. Santiago, A.L.C.M., Dearnaley, J., de Freitas, L.W.S., Dhileepan, K., Dimitrov, R., Di Piazza, S., Fatima, S., Fuljer, F., Galera, H., Ghosh, A., Giraldo, A., Glushakova, A.M., Gorczak, M., Gouliamova, D.E., Gramaje, D., Groenewald, M., Gunsch, C.K., Guti?rrez, A., Holdom, D., Houbraken, J., Ismailov, A.B., Istel, ?., Iturriaga, T., Jeppson, M., Jurjevi?, ?., Kalinina, L.B., Kapitonov, V.I., Kautmanova, I., Khalid, A.N., Kiran, M., Kiss, L., Kov?cs, ?., Kurose, D., Kusan, I., Lad, S., L?ss?e, T., Lee, H.B., Luangsa?ard, J.J., Lynch, M., Mahamedi, A.E., Malysheva, V.F., Mateos, A., Mato?ec, N., Me?i?, A., Miller, A.N., Mongkolsamrit, S., Moreno, G., Morte, A., Mostowfizadeh?Ghalamfarsa, R., Naseer, A., Navarro?R?denas, A., Nguyen, T.T.T., Noisripoom, W., Ntandu, J.E., Nuytinck, J., Ostr?, V., Pankratov, T.A., Paw?owska, J., Pecenka, J., Pham, T.H.G., Polhorsk?, A., Posta, A., Raudabaugh, D.B., Reschke, K., Rodr?guez, A., Romero, M., Rooney?Latham, S., Roux, J., Sandoval?Denis, M., Smith, M.Th., Steinrucken, T.V., Svetasheva, T.Y., Tkal?ec, Z., van der Linde, E.J., v.d. Vegte, J. Vauras, M., Verbeken, A., Visagie, C.M., Vitelli, J.S., Volobuev, S.V., Weill, A., Wrzosek, M., Zmitrovich, I.V., Zvyagina, E.A., Groenewald, J.Z. 2021 Fungal Planet description sheets: 1182–1283. Persoonia 46(1): 313–525. (In supplementary)
DOI: 10.3767/persoonia.2021.46.11View Article Google Scholar

Edler, D., Klein, J., Antonelli, A., Silvestro, D. 2021 RaxmlGUI 2.0: a graphical interface and toolkit for phylogenetic analyses using RAxML. Methods Ecol. Evol. 12(2): 373–377.
DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13512View Article Google Scholar

Fries, E.M. 1838 Epicrisis systematis mycologici, seu synopsis Hymenomycetum. Typ. Acad. Sumtibus Auctoris.

Hallen, H.E., Watling, R., Adams, G.C. 2003 Taxonomy and toxicity of Conocybe lactea and related species. Mycological Res. 107(8): 969–979. (In supplementary)
DOI: 10.1017/S0953756203008190View Article Google Scholar

Hausknecht, A., Anton?n, V., Polcˇ?k, J. 2007 A new, conspicuously coloured Bolbitius species from the Czech Republic. Czech Mycol. 59(1): 1–9.
DOI: 10.33585/cmy.59101View Article Google Scholar

Hausknecht, A., Contu, M., Krisai Greilhuber, I., D?hncke, R.M., Vizzini, A. 2010 Bolbitius excoriatus (Agaricomycetes, Agaricales), a new species from Spain. Osterr Z Pilzk 19:121–126.

Hausknecht, A., Contu, M., Krisai-Greilhuber, I. 2008 Bolbitius subvolvatus, a new species from Sardinia (Italy). Osterr Z Pilzk 8: 71–175.

Horak, E., Moreno, G., Ortega, A., Esteve-ravent?s, F. 2002 Bolbitius elegans, a striking new species from Southern Spain. Persoonia 17: 200.

Hyde, K.D., Noorabadi, M.T., Thiyagaraja, V., Mq, H., Johnston, P.R., Wijesinghe, S.N., Armand, A., Biketova, A.Y., Kwt, C., Erdo?du, M. and Zw, G. 2024 The 2024 Outline of fungi and fungus-like taxa. Mycosphere 15(1): 5146–6239.
DOI: 10.5943/mycosphere/15/1/25View Article Google Scholar

Katoh, K., Standley, D.M. 2013 MAFFT multiple sequence alignment software ver. 7: improvements in performance and usability. Mol. Biol. Evol. 30(4): 772–780.
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/mst010View Article Google Scholar

Kaur, A., Atri, N.S., Munruchi, K. 2013 Diversity of species of the genus Bolbitius (Bolbitiaceae, Agaricales) collected on dung from Punjab, India. Mycosphere 4(6): 1053–1064.
DOI: 10.5943/mycosphere/4/6/3View Article Google Scholar

Kaygusuz, O. 2022 First record of Bolbitius reticulatus (Agaricales: Bolbitiaceae) in Turkey, with nuclear ITS and LSU rDNA sequences data. Mantar Dergisi. 13(1):1–7.

Kornerup, A., Wanscher, J.H. 1978 Methuen Handbook of Colour, 3rd edn. Eyre Methuen Ltd., London, U.K. pp. 252.

Largent, D., Johnson, D., Watling, R. 1977 How to Identify Mushrooms to Genus III: microscopic features. Mad River Press Inc., Eureka, California. pp. 122.

Lebeuf, R., Alexandrova, A.V., Cerna-Mendoza, A., Anderson, C.G., da Silva, G.A., de la Sota-Ricaldi, A.M., Dima, B., Fryssouli, V., Gkilas, M., Guerrero-Abad, J.C., Lamoureux, Y., Landry, J., Me?ic?, A., Morozova, O.V., Noordeloos, M.E., Oehl, F., Paul, A., Pham, T.H.G., Polemis, E., Santos, V.M., Svetasheva, T.Yu., Tkalcˇec, Z., Vallejos-Tapullima, d., Vila, J., Zervakis, G.I., Baral, H.-O., Bulyonkova, T., Kalinina, L., Krisai-Greilhuber, I., Malysheva, E., Myhrer, J. P?rtel, K., Pennanen, M., Stallman, J.K., Haelewaters, D. 2022 Fungal systematics and evolution: FUSE 8. Sydowia 74: 193–249. (In supplementary)

Malysheva, E.F., Malysheva, V.F., Svetasheva, T.Y. 2015 Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the genus Bolbitius (Bolbitiaceae, Agaricales) in Russia. Mycol. Prog. 14(8): 64.
DOI: 10.1007/s11557-015-1087-2View Article Google Scholar

Manimohan, P.K., Thomas, A., Nisha, V.S. 2007 Agarics on elephant dung in Kerala State, India. Mycotaxon 99: 147–157.
DOI: 10.5962/p.419187View Article Google Scholar

Matheny, P.B., Wang, Z., Binder, M., Curtis, J.M., Lim, Y.W., Nilsson. R.H., Hughes, K.W., Hofstetter. V., Ammirati, J.F., Schoch, C.L., Langer, E. 2007 Contributions of rpb2 and tef1 to the phylogeny of mushrooms and allies (Basidiomycota, Fungi). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 43(2):430–451. (In supplementary)
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.08.024View Article Google Scholar

Mohanan, C. 2011 Macrofungi of Kerala. Kerala Forest Research Institute. Hand Book 27, Kerala, India, pp. 597.

Natarajan, K., Kumaresan, V., Narayanan, K. 2005 A checklist of Indian agarics and boletes (1984–2002). Kavaka 33: 61–128.

?rstadius, L., Larsson, E. 2013 Bolbitius excoriatus, flagnande guldskivling, funnen p?spillning i Sverige. Sven Mykol Tidskr. 34(2): 2–6. (In supplementary)

Osmundson, T.W., Robert, V.A., Schoch, C.L., Baker, L.J., Smith, A., Robich, G., Mizzan, L., Garbelotto, M.M. 2013 Filling gaps in biodiversity knowledge for macrofungi: contributions and assessment of an herbarium collection DNA barcode sequencing project. PloS One 8(4): e62419. (In supplementary)
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062419View Article Google Scholar

Rambaut, A. 2018 FigTree–Tree Figure Drawing Tool Version v. 1.4. 4. Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh.

Ronquist, F., Teslenko, M., Van Der Mark, P., Ayres, D.L., Darling, A., H?hna, S., Larget, B., Liu, L., Suchard, M.A., Huelsenbeck, J.P. 2012 MrBayes 3.2: efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model choice across a large model space. Syst. Biol. 61(3): 539–542.
DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/sys029View Article Google Scholar

Saini, S.S., Atri, N.S. 1995 Mushroom flora of Punjab. In: Chadha, K.L., Sharma, S.R. (eds). Advances in Horticulture Vol 13: 375–386. Mushrooms Malhotra Publishing House, New Delhi, India.

Singer, R. 1951 The Agaricales (Mushrooms) in modern taxonomy. Lilloa 22: 1–832.

Singer, R. 1977 Keys for the identification of the species of Agaricales I. Sydowia 30(1–6): 192–279.

T?th, A., Hausknecht, A., Krisai-Greilhuber, I., Papp, T., V?gv?lgyi, C., Nagy, L. G. 2013 Iteratively refined guide trees help improving alignment and phylogenetic inference in the mushroom family Bolbitiaceae. PLoS One 8(2): e56143. (In supplementary)
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056143View Article Google Scholar

Watling, R. 1982 British Fungus Flora. Agarics and Boleti 3. Bolbitiaceae: Agrocybe, Bolbitius and Conocybe. HMSO, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. pp.140

Watling, R. 1992 Observations on the Bolbitiaceae. Some Brazilian taxa. Bol. Soc. Argent Bot. 28: 77–103.

Watling, R. 1993 Observations on Malaysian Bolbitiaceae with records from Solomon Islands. US Government Printing Office, Washington.

White, T.J., Bruns, T., Lee, S., Taylor, J. 1990 Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis, M.A., Gelfand, D.H., Sninsky, J.J., White, T.J. (eds) PCR Protocols: a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, Cambridge. pp. 315–322.
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-372180-8.50042-1View Article Google Scholar

Zeller, S.M. 1933 New or noteworthy agarics from Oregon. Mycologia 25(5): 376–391.
DOI: 10.2307/3754013View Article Google Scholar