Morphological and molecular characterization of Pisolithus occurring in Hokkaido Island, Northern Japan

Pisolithus basidiomes were found under different forest trees in Hokkaido Island, Japan. These basidiomes were characterized morphologically and molecularly. Although presenting different basidiome morphology and growing under different hosts, specimens presented similar spores ornamentation, and diameters. These spores had coarse, crowded, and blunted spines with three to eight basidiospores per basidium. Ribosomal DNA-based phylogenetic analysis indicated that variability of Pisolithus in this area is low. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Pisolithus analyzed in this study did not group with Pisolithus specimens from other geographical origins. These results suggest that Pisolithus from this area should be taxonomically distinguished from other Pisolithus.