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Scleroderma stellatum versus Scleroderma bermudense: the status of Scleroderma echinatum and the first record of Veligaster nitidum from the Virgin Islands

     Instituto de Ecología, Apartado Postal 63, Jalapa, Ver. 91070, Mexico

Orson K. Miller, Jr.

     P.O. Box 858, McCall, Idaho 83638

D. Jean Lodge

     Center for Forest Mycology Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Lab., P.O. Box 1377 Luquillo, Puerto Rico 00773-1377

Timothy J. Baroni

     Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York College at Cortland, Cortland, New York 13045-0900

The type of Scleroderma stellatum from Brazil exhibits a sharp echinulate, dark brown peridium, and the type of S. bermudense from Bermuda has a peridium that is loosely woven and fibrillose, whitish to pale brownish. These characters indicate two independent species. This information is contrary to that of Guzmán in 1970, who interpreted S. bermudense to be a synonym of S. stellatum based on the similar spores. Scleroderma echinatum from Borneo and Panama, as recently discussed by Guzmán and Ovrebo, also has an echinulate, dark brown peridium and is a synonym of S. stellatum. All these fungi have a stellate dehiscence. New records of S. bermudense from the Greater Antilles and Mexico’s Pacific Coast, and Veligaster nitidum from Virgin Islands also are discussed.

Key words: Gasteromycetes, new records, Scleroderma, Sclerodermataceae, tropical fungi, Veligaster