Delimitation of Tuber pseudohimalayense and T. pseudoexcavatum based on morphological and molecular data

The taxonomic relationship between Tuber pseudohimalayense and other Chinese black truffles including T. indicum, T. himalayense, T. sinense, T. pseudoexcavatum has been controversial. Several studies have treated T. pseudohimalayense as a synonym of T. indicum. Morphological and molecular analyses of the isotype of T. pseudohimalayense in this study suggest that T. pseudohimalayense and T. pseudoexcavatum are a single species, distinct from T. indicum. Although the name T. pseudoexcavatum is much more widely used in the recent truffle literature than T. pseudohimalayense, the latter has priority over T. pseudoexcavatum based on the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). This study documents additional morphological variation among individuals of T. pseudo-himalayense, a commercial truffle species and endemic to the Himalayan region based on a large number of Chinese materials.