Cortinarius sanguineus and equally red species in Europe with an emphasis on northern European material

Tuula Niskanen, Sanna Laine, Kare Liimatainen, Ilkka Kytövuori

The red species of Cortinarius subgenus Dermocybe in Europe were studied based on morphological and molecular data. Three completely red species were recognized: C. sanguineus (syn. C. sanguineus var. aurantiovaginatus), C. puniceus (syn. C. cruentus, C. rubrosanguineus) and C. vitiosus comb. nov. Cortinarius sanguineus has dusky red to red pileus, reddish yellow mycelium and lacking or with only slightly encrusted hyphae in pileipellis. It occurs in mesic to damp forests with Picea, often on rich soil in the boreal and montane areas of Europe, presumably also in eastern Canada. Cortinarius puniceus differs from C. sanguineus by its stronger purplish red, narrower spores and spot-like encrusted hyphae in pileipellis. It grows with deciduous trees in the temperate zone of Europe. Cortinarius vitiosus is known only from Fennoscandia and occurs in dry to mesic coniferous forests. It has fairly thin, often zonate, dark red to dark reddish brown pileus, pale red mycelium, small spores and encrusted lamellar trama and pileipellis hyphae. In addition to these three species C. fervidus and C. phoeniceus occasionally have red basidiomes. The relationships of the species were inferred by analysis of ITS sequences. Our study suggests that the section Sanguinei, as earlier defined, is polyphyletic. Here the section is limited to include C. sanguineus, C. puniceus and North American D. sierraensis. The relationships with other red species were not determined. Section Dermocybe, including C. cinnamomeus, C. croceus and C. uliginosus, formed a monophyletic group, and the section Malicoriae had some support. A total of 34 new sequences are published including nine from type specimens.