Short title: Overview of the Clavariaceae A systematic, morphological and ecological overview of the Clavariaceae (Agaricales)

A systematic, morphological and ecological overview of the Clavariaceae (Agaricales) Joshua M. Birkebak Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 332 Hesler Biology Building, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1610 Jordan R. Mayor Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Panamá, República de Panamá K. Martin Ryberg P. Brandon Matheny Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 332 Hesler Biology Building, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1610 Abstract: The Clavariaceae is a diverse family of mushroom-forming fungi composed of species that produce simple clubs, coralloid, lamellate-stipitate, hydnoid and resupinate sporocarps. Here we present a systematic and ecological overview of the Clavariaceae based on phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the nuclear large subunit ribosomal RNA (nLSU), including nine from type collections. Forty-seven sequences from sporocarps of diverse taxa across the Clavariaceae were merged with 243 environmental sequences from GenBank and analyzed phylogenetically to determine major clades within the family. Four major clades or lineages were recovered: (i) Mucronella, (ii) Ramariopsis-Clavulinopsis, (iii) Hyphodontiella and (iv) ClavariaCamarophyllopsis-Clavicorona. Clavaria is paraphyletic, within which the lamellate and pileatestipitate genus Camarophyllopsis is derived and composed of two independent lineages. The monotypic genus Clavicorona also appears nested within Clavaria. The monophyly of Clavaria In Press at Mycologia, preliminary version published on February 8, 2013 as doi:10.3852/12-070