Nomination of a reference specimen for Amanita xanthocephala (Agaricales: Amanitaceae)
DAVISON, E.M., GIUSTINIANO, D., BOUGHER, N.L. AND BARRETT, M.D.
For Amanita xanthocephala (Berk.) D.A.Reid & R.N.Hilton we designate the specimen PERTH 08944555 from Kings Park as an informal reference specimen to complement the holotype K(M)236388, collected by Drummond from the Swan River Colony in 1843, and provide a description based on Western Australian collections. Sequences from the nuclear ribosomal transcribed spacer (ITS) region from the reference specimen and collections from Victoria and Western Australia cluster together in a well-supported clade. Amanita xanthocephala throughout southern Australia appears to be a single species. Amanita xanthocephala f. mcalpineana (Cleland & Cheel) D.A.Reid has a yellow pileus, however an ITS sequence published on the Atlas of Living Australia does not differ from those with an orange or reddish orange pileus, suggesting it is a common and variable species. Amanita xanthocephala f. mcalpineana is synonymised with A. xanthocephala.
