XVI International Botanical Congess

The families Entolomataceae & Hygrophoraceae in the Greater Antilles have some species and lineages from N. America (e.g., Hygrocybe acutoconica, H. calyptriformis, Entoloma murraii and Leptonia incana). Many species from S. Am. apparently colonized the Greater Antilles via the Lesser Antilles which emerged 25 million years ago. Examples of species distributed from S. America through the Lesser Antilles and reaching the eastern Greater Antilles include Hygrocybe chloochlora, H. occidentalis, Entoloma bakeri and E. dragonosporum. Some endemic Greater Antillian species are closely related to a Lesser Antillian or a N. or S. American species, suggesting that populations of some agarics in the Antilles were sufficiently isolated to have speciated despite being dispersed by airborne spores.