Current Taxonomical Status of Korean Auricularia Species

Sung-Eun Cho1   Young-Nam Kwag1   Dong-Hyeon Lee2   Jae-Gu Han3   Chang Sun Kim1,*   

1Forest Biodiversity Division, Korea National Arboretum, Pocheon 11186, Korea
2Divison of Forest Insect Pests and Diseases, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul 02455, Korea
3Mushroom Research Division, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Eumseong 27709, Korea

Abstract

Auricularia (Auriculariaceae, Basidiomycota) is well-known jelly fungi, and most species are cultivated or utilized medicinally around the world. A total of 127 Auricularia specimens were collected during Korean mushroom forays by the Korea National Arboretum from 2008 to 2020. In this investigation, fungal barcode analysis and morphological examinations of 33 specimens were conducted and five Korean Auricularia species were identified. Of the species identified, A. americana, A. heimuer, and A. villosula were new to Korea, while A. auricula-judae which was previously identified in Korea, was not found. Herein, we discuss the Korean Auricularia species and provide a taxonomic key for their morphological identification.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1. Phylogenetic tree of species based on RAxML analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. The new sequences from the present study are shown in blue text. Bootstrap values higher than 60% are shown in the branches.