Hypogeous fungi of Lithuania: a preliminary checklist

The paper reports on hypogeous fungi known from Lithuania, and data on their habitats, phenology, and distribution. References on the collections kept in the herbaria are also pointed out. The information is based on literature data and re-examination of all available voucher specimens. 22 species (12 genera, 3 phyla) recorded from 124 localities are presented in a preliminary checklist.


IntroDuCtIon
Hypogeous fungi of Lithuania are poorly known as only few mycologists have investigated them.the first relevant data on six species of hypogeous fungi were published by Bucholtz (1904Bucholtz ( , 1907)), one of the pioneers in the study of sequestrate fungi (Castellano et al. 2004).F. Bucholtz's examined specimens collected by M. Domaradsky from Kaunas surroundings in 1904.Unfortunately, all Lithuanian collections seen by F. Bucholtz were lost during First World War.Some records of hypogeous species were published by trzebiński (1934), Mazelaitis and Minkevičius (1957), Mazelaitis (1961Mazelaitis ( , 1966)).these species belonging to Leucogaster r.Hesse, Melanogaster Corda and Rhizopogon Fr. & Nordholm were included by Mazelaitis (1982) in his monograph on Lithuanian gasteromycetes.the data on ascomycete species of Choiromyces Vittad., Geopora Harkn., Hydnotrya Berk.& Broome and Tuber F. H. Wigg.have been published in a monographic work on the Pezizales of Lithuania (Kutorga 2000).recently undertaken special sampling by raking the soil has extended the known range of several species, and added three species to the Lithuanian mycobiota (Kataržytė, Kutorga 2005).
the aim of the present study is to re-examine all available material on hypogeous fungi known in Lithuania, to re-evaluate taxonomic arrangement and nomenclature for all taxa treated, and finally to present an annotated checklist of these fungi.

MatEriaLS aND MEtHODS
all relevant specimens in fungal reference collections of the institute of Botany, Vilnius (BiLaS) and Vilnius University (Wi) have been located and re-examined.the checklist includes also all the published records of species from Lithuania.the concept of hypogeous fungi follows Castellano et al. (2004).Other sequestrate fungi that produce sporocarps above soil surface in Lithuania, i.e. from the genera Scleroderma Pers.and Endoptychum Czern., are not included in this checklist.
For each fungus the information is given in the following order: scientific name, it's synonym (when used in Lithuanian literature), data on habitat and phenology: months in which fungus has been observed/collected), distribution (Distr: number of known localities and administrative districts/cities); preserved and examined fungal exsiccata (Exs.; an acronym of herbarium in which specimens are deposited, and herbarium access number, fungal name on the label, if current identification is different), literature (Lit.), and notes (when necessary).taxa of Glomeromycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota are treated separately in alphabetical order.the taxonomical arrangement of taxa follows Kirk et al. (2008), and an author citation was used according the authors of Fungal Names (2 ed., http://www.indexfungorum.org/ authorsOfFungalNames.htm).
Notes.E. asperulus is distinguished from E. granulatus mainly on the basis of spore ornamentation and colour of peridium (Ławrynowicz 1988).E. asperulus has spore spines up to 2 µm long and whitish to greyish pink peridium.E. granulatus is characterised by spines longer than 2 µm and whitish to yellowish peridium.
Notes. the fruit-bodies of Elaphomyces species were commonly observed in the places disturbed by feeding wild animals or in association of mycoparasitic species of the genus Cordyceps (Fr.) Link.
Notes.Mazelaitis (1982) noted that the species usually grows in deciduous and coniferous forests, especially in Quercus stands, however, an exact data on ecology of Lithuanian record was not provided.
Notes.reports on M. variegatus were based on collections made in 1928 and 1952.However, there are no specimens available under this name in Wi and BiLaS.according to the description provided by Mazelaitis (1982) the basidiospores were ellipsoid, 6-9 × 3-4 µm.Mentioned spore size fits better the concept of M. broomeianus Berk.Extremely closely related M. variegatus s. str., a species of southern and central Europe, differs mainly in broader basidiospores, 7.5-10 × 5.5-8 µm (Lange 1956;Pegler et al. 1993).Notes. in the treatment of gasteromycetes from the former Soviet Union (Sosin 1973) the species was reported as known from Lithuania.However, the attempt to reveal more data concerning this report has failed (Mazelaitis 1982).
the specimen, which has been collected by G. Bresadola in 1921 from Varėna district and currently preserved at M, was re-examined by Martín (2001).

DIsCussIon
22 species (12 genera, 3 phyla) recorded from 124 localities are presented in the list of hypogeous fungi from Lithuania.Elaphomyces asperulus, E. granulatus, E. muricatus, Geopora arenicola and Rhizopogon luteolus are the most commonly observed and collected species.82 out of total 105 preserved specimens of hypogeous fungi belong to the five latter species.13 species are known in Lithuania from one or two localities only.Voucher specimens of 8 species are no longer extant, and these taxa are currently known only from the literature.
Many more hypogeous fungi remain to be discovered in Lithuania, and the knowledge of already known and yet not recorded species ecology and distribution needs to be investigated in greater depth.