20. Marasmius bekolacongoli Beeli, Bull. Soc. R. Bot. Belg. 60(2): 157. 1928. (Fig. 12, Plate 4) Type:— DR CONGO. Equateur Province, Eala, October 1923, M. Goossens–Fontana 204 (BR 11406–57). Description:—Macromorphological features derived from a photograph and dried material. Pileus 85 mm diam, obtusely conical; disc rugulose; margin sulcate; surface dry, glabrous; striped, disc brown to violaceous brown, sulcae pinkish-violaceous brown, ridges pale cream to buff. Context thin. Lamellae adnexed, distant (15), cream, non-marginate. Stipe about 120 × 10 mm, central, cylindrical; surface longitudinally ridged; cream to tan or pale brown. Odor and taste not distinctive. Basidiospores (21.6–) 24–29.4 × (3.2–) 4–6.4 μm [x m = 26.05 ± 2.19 × 5.17 ± 0.98 μm; Q = 3.5–7.5; Q m = 5.24 ± 1.41, n = 25, s = 1], clavate, smooth, hyaline, inamyloid, thin-walled. Basidia not observed. Basidioles 35–42.4 × 8–11.2 μm, clavate, hyaline, inamyloid, thin-walled. Cheilocystidia few, 18.4–26.4 × 8–12 μm, clavate to broadly clavate or cylindrical, smooth, hyaline, inamyloid, thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis not mottled, a hymeniform layer of Globulares - type cells; main body 14.4–28 × 9.6–16 μm, clavate to broadly clavate, pyriform or subglobose, smooth, hyaline, inamyloid, thin-walled. Pileus trama interwoven; hyphae 3.2–16 μm diam, cylindrical to inflated, smooth, hyaline to pale light brown, dextrinoid, thin-walled. Lamellar trama regular; hyphae 3.2–16 μm diam, cylindrical to inflated, smooth, hyaline, dextrinoid, thin-walled. Stipe tissue monomitic; cortical hyphae 3.2–8.8 μm diam, parallel, cylindrical, yellowish brown, dextrinoid, thick-walled; medullary hyphae 2.4–10.4 μm diam, parallel, cylindrical, pale yellowish, inamyloid, thick-walled. Caulocystidia absent. Clamp connections present. Habit, habitat and known distribution:—Solitary on undetermined dicotyledonous debris. Africa (Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe), Madagascar. Material examined:— MADAGASCAR.Region Vatovavy-Fitovinany,District Ifanadiana,Commune Ranomafana, February 2013, T. Lockwood 2131638 (SFSU). Notes:—The single specimen from Madagascar (Lockwood 2131638) matches nicely the descriptions of African material (Singer 1965, Pegler 1977, Antonín 2007), although the basidiospores are slightly longer. Our specimen has a violaceous brown and cream striped pileus 85 mm diam, a large (120 × 10 mm) cream longitudinally ridged stipe, basidiospores in the range 24–29.6 × 4–6.4 μm, no pleurocystidia, clavate cheilocystidia, Globulares - type pileipellis cells, no caulocystidia, and growth in leafy debris. African M. bekolacongoli are reported to have basidiospores 17.5– 26 × 3.8–5.4 μm (Antonín 2007), otherwise the morphology is indistinguishable from Lockwood 2131638. Because of the basidiospore size, the Madagascar specimen would key to M. camerunensis Antonín & Mossebo, but the latter has a smaller, non-striped pileus lacking violaceous tones, and a smaller stipe (40–70 × 4–6 mm) and grows on woody debris (Antonín 2007). Only a single basidiome of M. bekolacongoli was collected and photographed by Taylor Lockwood. An ITS sequence of this specimen (KX 148982) formed a weakly supported clade with other members of sect. Globulares plus M. coarctatus (sect. Sicci, ser. Spinulosi) (Fig. 1b). The following four series were formally described within Sect. Sicci Singer, but because they represent nonmonophyletic lineages (see Results above) they are herein informally placed in Sect. Globulares for pragmatic reasons; no formal transfers are implied.

Published as part of Shay, Jackie E., Desjardin, Dennis E., Perry, Brian A., Grace, Chris L. & Newman, Danny S., 2017, Biodiversity and phylogeny of Marasmius (Agaricales, Basidiomycota) from Madagascar, pp. 101-149 in Phytotaxa 292 (2) on pages 126-128, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.292.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13697833