Tropical African Cantharellus Adans.: Fr. (Hydnaceae, Cantharellales) with lilac-purplish tinges revisited

The authors discuss several African Cantharellus Adans.: Fr. species with lilac-purplish tinges on the pileus or stipe surface collected in the Central African rain forest or West African gallery forests. The morphology of C. longisporus Heinem. is discussed on the basis of new Central African collections and found profoundly different from two previously described subspecies from Madagascar which are here recombined as C. littoralis (Buyck & Randrianjohany) Buyck, comb. et stat. nov., and C. isaloensis (Buyck & Eyssartier) Buyck, comb. et stat. nov. Cantharellus xanthocyaneus Ndolo Ebika & Buyck, sp. nov., a new look-alike of C. cyanoxanthus R.Heim ex Heinem. with considerably smaller basidiospores is described, as well as a new chanterelle species from Togo, viz. C. violaceoflavescens De Kesel, Guelly, L.A.Parra & Buyck, sp. nov., that in the field is reminiscent of C. littoralis (Buyck & Randrianjohany) Buyck, comb. et stat. nov. A multigene phylogeny places both new species Cantharellus xanthocyaneus Ndolo Ebika & Buyck, sp. nov., and Cantharellus violaceoflavescens De Kesel, Guelly, L.A.Parra & Buyck, sp. nov., in the subgenera Parvocantharellus Eyssart. & Buyck and Pseudocantharellus Eyssart. & Buyck respectively, and Cantharellus littoralis (Buyck & Randrianjohany) Buyck, comb. et stat. nov., in the subgenus Cinnabarini Buyck & V.Hofst.