Bioclimatic origin shapes phylogenetic structure of Tirmania (Pezizaceae): new species and new record from North Africa

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships among Tirmania were investigated using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and large subunit (LSU) regions of the nuclear-encoded ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and comparedwithmorphological and bioclimatic data. The combined analyses of forty-one Tirmania samples fromAlgeria andSpainsupportedfourlineages corresponding to four morphological species. Besides the two previously described taxa, Tirmania pinoyi and Tirmania nivea, here we describe and illustrate a new species, Tirmania sahariensis sp. nov., which differs from all other Tirmania by its distinct phylogenetic position and its specific combination of morphological features. We also present Citation: Zitouni-Haouar, F.E.-H.; Bidartondo, M.I.; Moreno, G.; Carlavilla, J.R.; Manjón, J.L.; Neggaz, S.; Zitouni-Nourine, S.H. Bioclimatic Origin Shapes Phylogenetic Structure of Tirmania (Pezizaceae): New Species and New Record from North Africa. J. Fungi 2023, 9, 532. https:// doi.org/10.3390/jof9050532 Academic Editor: Lei Cai Received: 17 March 2023 Revised: 19 April 2023 Accepted: 23 April 2023 Published: 29 April 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). a first record of Tirmania honrubiae from North Africa (Algeria). Our findings suggest that restrictions imposed by the bioclimatic niche have played a key role in driving the speciation process of Tirmania along the Mediterranean and Middle East.