Multiple Analyses Reveal Evidence for Three New Species of Collybia (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript entitled “Multiple evidence reveals four new species of Collybia species 2

(Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China” represents a taxonomic study utilizing both DNA and morphological data to present new proposed species of Collybia.

The study is a valuable contribution in its field.

Considering the subject, photographs of much good quality (at a higher resolution, and with better clarity) are required as supplementary information. These images are very important to a better understanding of the morphologies of the four new proposed species. In these photographs, all of the macroscopic features should be visible. Microphotographs would also add value to the manuscript.

Additionally, a re-check of the manuscript is necessary for correcting several errors that occurred during manuscript preparation. Some errors found are detailed bellow:

- line 13: “C. violea and C. violea” please correct;

- lines 77-78 check and revise;

- line 133 – there is a double space – please correct;

- line 253 “clavipe stipe” – maybe “clavate”;

- lines 281-282, please check and revise;

- line 288 “that there were five subclades of C. nuda were recognized” – please revise.

All the text should be rechecked.

Author Response

Major comments

Considering the subject, photographs of much good quality (at a higher resolution, and with better clarity) are required as supplementary information. These images are very important to a better understanding of the morphologies of the four new proposed species. In these photographs, all of the macroscopic features should be visible. Microphotographs would also add value to the manuscript.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have added the photographs of good quality and SEM images of basidiospores in the revised manuscript.

Detail comments

Comment 1:

Line 13: “C. violea and C. violea” please correct.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have removed the duplicate C. violea.

Comment 2:

Lines 77-78: check and revise.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The grammar error has been corrected.

Comment 3:

Line 133: there is a double space – please correct.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The space has been removed.

Comment 4:

Line 253: “clavipe stipe” – maybe “clavate”.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The error has been revised.

Comment 5:

Lines 281-282: please check and revise.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The error has been revised.

Comment 6:

Line 288: “that there were five subclades of C. nuda were recognized” – please revise.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have corrected the error.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript: "Multiple evidence reveals four new species of Collybia species (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China" provides the phylogenetic analysis and the morphological description of four new species within the genus Collybia.

The main drawback concerns C. sichuanensis: it is risky to describe a new species with a single isolate. Nowadays, it is recommended to submit the description of new species only when more than one isolate has been found. In my opinion, C. sichuanensis should be removed from the manuscript.

 

The topic of the paper is in line with the objectives of Journal of Fungi.

The manuscript is comprehensive, and almost clearly describes the new species.

The abstract, describes the overall objectives of the study and its main results well.

The introduction of the paper is short, but it seems adequate and appropriate.

The chapter on materials and methods needs minor changes, but the overall description is informative enough.

The results are presented clearly, but need some improvements to be complete.

The references are adequate and up to date.

Figures and tables are necessary, but needs some corrections.

 

 

Below, I have listed some key observations and comments that need to be addressed before publication:

 

Line 2: It is better to change the title from “Multiple evidence reveals four new species of Collybia species (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China” to “Multiple evidence analysis reveals new species of Collybia (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China”

 

Line 4: C. violea is repeated two times, while C. sichuanensis is missing.

 

Line 70: Please add how many bootstrap values were calculated for the Raxml analysis.

 

Line 90: It can be easily written that the bootstrap values shown are greater than 90%

 

Table 1: Please, correct the accession numbers in the table. ITS and LSU accession numbers of C. calvipes, C. carnea, and C. sichuanensis has been reversed in the columns of the table, Check the other accession numbers as they are not yet public (except for the TEF of C. violea). Please insert some horizontal line to better delimit the sequences belonging to the respective species.

 

In my opinion, it is highly recommended and useful to add, in the description of each species, a detailed description of the differences found in the molecular analysis, for example the number of single nucleotide polimorphysms between the new species and the most similar species for each molecular marker.

 

In summary, it seems to me that the manuscript is almost complete as far as the description of the new species is concerned (to be improved with the descriptions of the molecular analysis).

 

Please, carefully check the grammar and possible typing errors.

Author Response

Major comments

The main drawback concerns C. sichuanensis: it is risky to describe a new species with a single isolate. Nowadays, it is recommended to submit the description of new species only when more than one isolate has been found. In my opinion, C. sichuanensis should be removed from the manuscript.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have removed the new species C. sichuanensis from the manuscript.

Detail comments

Comment 1:

Line 2: It is better to change the title from “Multiple evidence reveals four new species of Collybia species (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China” to “Multiple evidence analysis reveals new species of Collybia (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China”

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have revised the title according to the suggestion.

Comment 2:

Line 4: C. violea is repeated two times, while C. sichuanensis is missing.

Response:

The error has been revised.

Comment 3:

Line 70: Please add how many bootstrap values were calculated for the Raxml analysis. 

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The bootstrap replicates for the Raxml analysis have been added.

Comment 4:

Line 90: It can be easily written that the bootstrap values shown are greater than 90%.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The topology has only showed the bootstrap values greater than 90%.

Comment 5:

Table 1: Please, correct the accession numbers in the table. ITS and LSU accession numbers of C. calvipes, C. carnea, and C. sichuanensis have been reversed in the columns of the table, Check the other accession numbers as they are not yet public (except for the TEF of C. violea). Please insert some horizontal line to better delimit the sequences belonging to the respective species.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have revised the reversed ITS and LSU accession numbers, and checked the other accession numbers. In addition, the horizontal lines have been inserted.

Comment 6:

In my opinion, it is highly recommended and useful to add, in the description of each species, a detailed description of the differences found in the molecular analysis, for example the number of single nucleotide polimorphysms between the new species and the most similar species for each molecular marker.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. The similarities between the new species and the most similar species for each molecular marker have been added.

Comment 7:

Please, carefully check the grammar and possible typing errors.

Response:

Thank you for the comment. We have check the grammar and possible typing errors throughout the manuscript.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The Article "Multiple evidence analysis reveals three new species of Collybia (Clitocybaceae, Basidiomycete) from China" has been revised following the previous comments.

Line 86: if you prefer to write 8000000 generations in numbers, please delete the word "million".
Check the quality of figure 1, it seems lower than expected.