First Record of Lepista sordida (Schumach) Singer in Eastern North Africa
A NEW record of Lepista sordida was collected from a lemon fruit farm in El-Sinania at Damietta District of North delta of Egypt in December, 2014. It was identified using morphological (macro and microscopic) and molecular techniques. Complete description was preformed for the collected fresh fruiting bodies and isolated pure culture. Radial growth rate of culture was estimated on Potato dextrose and Malt extract agar media (8.5 & 7.8 mm/ day, respectively). Lepista sordida and L. nuda are very close in morphological characters; hence, the identification was confirmed by DNA sequence analysis of the ribosomal 5.8S rRNA gene including the flanking internal transcribed spacers (ITS). Then, its taxonomic position among some genera of Tricholomataceae and its relation with some other Lepista species was discussed. The surrounding habitat was also observed and environmental conditions were recorded as Temperature degree (29.7oC), relative humidity (RH: 44.6) and soil moisture was (5.56). Lepista sordida was reported from South Africa and Nigeria (in the South), Algeria and Tunisia (in the North-west) and this is first record in North-East Africa.