Taxonomy and phylogenetic position of species of Amanita sect. Vaginatae s.l. from tropical Africa

The genus Amanita is well represented in tropical Africa, but most previous taxonomic studies were largely based only on morphology. In this study, we used both morphological and molecular data (nLSU sequences) to infer the phylogenetic relationships of ten species of Amanita sect. Vaginatae s.l. from tropical Africa. It was found that all five species with both an annulus and commonly present clamp connections in the basidioma were clustered in the sect. Caesareae. One species with neither an annulus nor clamp connections was placed in sect. Vaginatae s.s. The remaining four taxa with an annulus, but without clamp connections were interestingly also grouped into sect. Vaginatae s.s. with strong statistical support. Consequently, the section Vaginatae s.s. should be slightly modified to include tropical species with an annulus. As a new species, A. madagascariensis was described and illustrated. Amanita tanzanica was treated as a synonym of A. mafingensis.