Revisão das espécies do gênero Cyathus Haller (Nidulariaceae, Basidiomycota) para o Brasil

Abstract

Nidulariaceae are small size fungi that have a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on various types of substrates. Among its members, the genus Cyathus Haller is the most representative, with about 84 published species. The genus is characterized by a fruitbody vase or coneshaped, besides having internal structures that resemble small eggs inside a bird’s nest. Due to this feature, these organisms are popularly known as “bird’s nest fungi”. In Brazil, there are records of distribution of these organisms in all biomes, but with major concentration in the Amazon and Atlantic rainforest. Most of the studies involving Cyathus are focused in publish new species, formulating a large database that has accumulated over the years. In addition, lack of standardization of morphological characteristics has resulted in numerous misidentifications, and after analyses performed with type specimens, it was observed that there were significant differences between these and the Brazilian samples. Thus, this work aimed to perform an extensive taxonomic revision of Cyathus, reevaluating previously published material for the genus and deposited in fungi collections, to identify them correctly. For this, loans from Brazilian fungi collections were made, and surveys were performed in areas of Atlantic Forest in Rio Grande do Norte state. A total of 145 samples from institutional collections were analyzed from materials of several biomes, with exception of the Pantanal, totalizing 31 species occurring in Brazil. All species were listed and discussed in this review. In addition, newly descriptions, photo plates, distribution maps and a dichotomous key for all taxa occurring for Brazil are presented. The distribution of Cyathus was extended to 9 new unexplored areas distributed in 7 brazilian states (AM, DF, PE, RJ, RN, RS and RR) and two samples were considered as potential taxonomic novelties for the genus (Cyathus sp.1 and Cyathus sp. 2). The results obtained in this review allowed the elucidation of existing taxonomic problems and provided an updated database for further works with the genus.