Biannulariaceae

© Steve Trudell

Danny’s DNA Discoveries – Biannulariaceae of the PNW (Tricholomatineae)
by Danny Miller

Introduction

A few clitocyboid genera are allegedly in this family, including both clitocyboid genera with rings, and they are all farinaceous.

Catathelasma - sometimes ponderously large whitish mushrooms with a sort of double-ring. Farinaceous.

Cleistocybe s.l. - the other ringed clitocyboids, not as large. Farinaceous.

Bonomyces - orange, strongly farinaceous somewhat stocky clitocyboids otherwise difficult to separate from Clitocybe and its other segregate genera (of which this is one).

Biannularia is a newer genus name for Catathelasma, but Biannulariaceae is an older family name than Catathelasmataceae, and unfortunately families have their own order of precedence and don't follow the precedence of genera, so the family name does not match the name of anything inside the family anymore. The name comes from the double veil of Catathelasma.

It should be noted that a 4 gene tree in the 2018 paper describing Bonomyces found that Catathelasma stood alone in this family, with Cleistocybe and Bonomyces definitely not in the same family. But another 4 gene tree in the 2020 paper on the Biannulariaceae and Callistosporiaceae found strong support that these three genera do belong together in the same family. Normally, multi-gene studies don't disagree like this, so I don't know what to think, but for now I am tentatively treating the three genera together on this page. My ITS only trees of the sub-order Tricholomatineae are of course not able to place these genera anywhere with confidence.

abundant common uncommon rare - colour codes match my Pictorial Key and are my opinions and probably reflect my bias of living in W WA. Rare species may be locally common in certain places at certain times.

Catathelasma - click to expand
Large, dense, ponderous, mostly white mushrooms with white spores, strongly decurrent gills, a tapered stem, and a sort of double-ring (bi-annular). Farinaceous. Inexperienced people might think they are Matsutake, but that has a very different odor and notched gills.
Species mentioned: Catathelasma imperiale, ventricosum, evanescens, singeri.

Catathelasma ventricosum AL - dry cap and paler colours than C. evanescens, described next. We don't have SE USA sequences from near Alabama to prove that this is what our species is, but sequences up and down the west coast and from the NE are the same as ours. One 2020 paper declares that C. ventricosum is the species in the PNW, while another 2020 paper leaves open the possibility that AL sequences might turn out to be different. We'll want a type sequence to prove it one way or the other. One Arkansas sequence purporting to be C. ventricosum is different, but appears corrupt.
Catathelasma evanescens WY (=Catathelasma singeri CO, C. 'imperiale' misapplied) - viscid capped with some darker tones, at least when young, and even larger. Collections of this usually go by the wrong name, Catathelasma imperiale, a European sister species not yet known from here. Back in 1978, C. singeri was described from CO as a C. imperiale lookalike, but in more than 40 years, nobody in the PNW realized that might be our species. A couple of supposed C. imperiale sequences from WA and a couple from OR prove that our local species is indeed C. singeri. Then, a 2020 paper obtained a WA epitype ITS sequence of the older 1910 species Catathelasma evanescens, and it is the same as C. singeri. This means we've overlooked which species was here for more than 110 years. If you think you actually find C. imperiale, save it.

Catathelasma ventricosum © Kathleen Dobson, probable C. evanescens © Michael Beug

Cleistocybe s.l. - click to expand
The other clitocyboid genus with a veil. Strongly farinaceous. True Cleistocybe have a dry cap. A species that needs to be moved into a new genus (and maybe family although it seems to be near here with good support) has a viscid cap.
Species mentioned: Cleistocybe vernalis, gomphidioides.

Cleistocybe vernalis WA - a spring species with a dry, leathery-scaly cap
'Cleistocybe' gomphidioides WA - a fall species with a viscid cap. It does not appear to belong in Cleistocybe.

Cleistocybe vernalis © Andrew Parker, 'Cleistocybe' gomphidioides © MycoPortal

Bonomyces - click to expand
An orange clitocyboid with a strong farinaceous odor. The lack of a veil makes it hard to place in this family, but similar orange clitocyboids don't have as strong a farinaceous odor (Infundibulicybe) and/or have thinner, less stocky stems (Paralepista).
Species mentioned: Bonomyces sinopicus, subsinopicus, squamulosus

Bonomyces squamulosus - A 2018 paper said that Bonomyces subsinopicus EU's type sequence showed that it was the same as Bonomyces sinopicus, but I don't think that is true, as the sequences are 4% different. These are the species thought to occur here, but two local sequences so far are 4 bp from the type sequence of Bonomyces squamulosus, so that appears to be our local species. One Arizona sequence matched Bonomyces subsinopicus, so we have more than one Bonomyces in the west and we should keep looking for more species in the PNW. Not all of them are the same shade of orange. Perhaps the 2nd photo is a second species.

Bonomyces squamulosus © Connor Dooley, unsequenced Bonomyces © Andrew Parker

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