Cladistic analysis of European species of Rhizopogon (Basidiomycotina) based on morphological and molecular characters

Relations between Rhizopogon roseolus, the most common false truffle in Eur ope, and other species with simple peridium (Sect. Rhizopogon) were analyse d on the basis of the morphological characters and their ribosomal ITS 2 se quences. R. luteolus, the type species of the genus and of the Sect. Rhizop ogon, clusters in a separate clade from R. roseolus. Molecular data analyze d by both parsimony and distance methods support that Sect. Rhizopogon is p araphyletic. Substitution rate calibration applied to ITS2 sequences from t he Rhizopogon collections and 24 other Boletales sequences retrieved from t he GenBank confirm the results under parsimony: Rhizopogon is monophyletic and it is a sister group of Suillus s.l. including Boletinus and Fuscobolet inus.