Biodiversity of Herbivores Triggers Species Differentiation of Coprophilous Fungi: A Case Study of Snow Inkcap ( sect. ).

Coprophilous species of sect. , commonly known as "snow inkcap", are widespread in pastoral areas; however, wide sampling approaches are needed to discover new taxa and to clarify the taxonomic status of the so-called "snow inkcap". Nationwide field work was conducted in China with a detailed record collected of the distribution and the animal origin of the dung. A four-loci phylogenetic study of sect. was conducted based on the internal transcribed spacer regions (), the ribosomal large subunit (), and translation elongation factor 1-α ()], and the mitochondria small ribosomal RNA subunit (). Fourteen phylogenetic species were assigned to this section, including six novel species, namely , , , , , and . Macro-, micro-, and ultramicro-morphological observations of species collected from China were also conducted and the detailed descriptions and illustrations of the novel species are provided. Our studies revealed that the different origin of herbivore dung, the distribution, the color and thickness of the pileus, the shape of stipes, the shape and size of basidiospores, and the presence or absence of pleurocystidia can be used as characteristics for distinguishing species in sect. . The key to species belonging to this section is also provided.