Data from: A synopsis of the saddle fungi (Helvella: Ascomycota) in Europe – species delimitation, taxonomy and typification

Helvella is a widespread, speciose genus of large apothecial ascomycetes (Pezizomycete: Pezizales) that are found in terrestrial biomes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This study represents a beginning on assessing species limits and applying correct names for Helvella species based on type material and specimens in the university herbaria (fungaria) of Copenhagen (C), Harvard (FH) and Oslo (O). We use morphology and phylogenetic evidence from four loci – heat shock protein 90 (hsp), translation elongation factor alpha (tef), RNA polymerase II (rpb2) and the nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU) –to assess species boundaries in an expanded sample of Helvella specimens from Europe. We combine the morphological and phylogenetic information from 55 Helvella species from Europe with a small sample of Helvella species from other regions of the world. Little intraspecific variation was detected within the species using these molecular markers; hsp and rpb2 markers provided useful barcodes for species delimitaion in this genus, while LSU provided more variable resolution among the pertinent species. We discuss typification issues and identify molecular characteristics for 55 European Helvella species, designate neo- and epitypes for 30 species, and describe seven Helvella species new to science, i.e., H. alpicola, H. alpina, H. carnosa, H. danica, H. nannfeldtii, H. pubescens and H. scyphoides.

马鞍菌属（Helvella）是一个分布广泛、物种多样的大型盘状子囊菌属，隶属于盘菌纲（Pezizomycete）盘菌目（Pezizales），广泛存在于南北半球的陆地生物群落中。本研究以模式材料以及哥本哈根大学真菌标本馆（C）、哈佛大学真菌标本馆（FH）与奥斯陆大学真菌标本馆（O）的馆藏标本为基础，首次对马鞍菌属的物种界限界定及正确学名应用展开评估。本研究利用来自4个基因位点的形态学与系统发育证据——热休克蛋白90（heat shock protein 90，hsp）、翻译延伸因子α（translation elongation factor alpha，tef）、RNA聚合酶II（RNA polymerase II，rpb2）以及核大亚基核糖体DNA（nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA，LSU）——对欧洲地区扩充采样的马鞍菌属标本进行物种边界界定分析。我们将欧洲55个马鞍菌属物种的形态学与系统发育信息，与全球其他区域的少量马鞍菌属物种样本进行整合。经上述分子标记检测，该属物种的种内变异程度极低；其中hsp与rpb2标记可作为该属物种界定的有效分子条形码，而LSU标记则能在近缘物种间提供更高分辨率的区分能力。本研究讨论了马鞍菌属的模式指定相关问题，明确了55个欧洲马鞍菌属物种的分子特征，为30个物种指定了新模与后模，并描述了7个科学新种，分别为高山马鞍菌（H. alpicola）、阿尔卑斯马鞍菌（H. alpina）、肉质马鞍菌（H. carnosa）、丹麦马鞍菌（H. danica）、南菲尔德马鞍菌（H. nannfeldtii）、柔毛马鞍菌（H. pubescens）以及杯状马鞍菌（H. scyphoides）。