Bovista pezica. A new species with unusually ornamented capillitium from Patagonia, Argentina

Abstract

Collections of the genus Bovista in southern South America have been traditionally identified under northern-hemisphere names. Although many puffball species show a wide distribution, the identity and distribution of Patagonian species still need to be revisited. Recent materials collected in Patagonia and displaying a unique capillitium ornamented with oblique membranes are shown here to correspond to a new species, Bovista pezica from the Nothofagaceae forests. An unusually thick and coriaceous endoperidium also supports the separation of these specimens verified by our molecular analyses. We present here a full description of B. pezica sp. nov. along with a key for the species recorded in Patagonia, and we discuss the possible distributional range.