Cortinarius violaceolilacinus, sp. nov., in subgenus Telamonia section Saturnini from Abbottabad District, Pakistan

Memoona Azeem, Hira Ijaz, Mehboobullah Khan, Tasneem Ashraf, Chang-Lin Zhao & Sana Jabeen

Sydowia 79: 213-221

Published online on August 26th, 2026

Cortinarius violaceolilacinus, sp. nov., was collected from Abbottabad District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The species is distinguished from its closely related species C. lucorum by a smooth to rugulose pileus featuring a dark purplish centre, orangish disc, and lilac to whitish margin. It is further characterized by persistent violet lamellae, a slender stipe with a bulbous base, and elongated, comparatively smaller basidiospores measuring 9.8–11.8 × 5.1–6.4 µm. Comparative morphological analyses combined with molecular phylogenetic inference based on the ITS region of nrDNA confirm that this taxon is distinct from previously described species and represents a new species within Cortinarius subg. Telamonia sect. Saturnini.

Keywords: Agaricales, cosmopolitan, maximum likelihood, phylogeny, taxonomy.

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