Created: 2008-06-26 05:49:06

By: Rod Tulloss (ret)

Summary: Yes there are two taxa...

Yes, there is a yellow variant of muscaria that occurs in the PNW. Dr. Jozsef Geml (Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks) has been working on the DNA of the muscarioid taxa of North America. His present conclusion is that the yellow muscarioid entity of the west is not a separate species. It is a yellow variant that has arisen multiple times from the true (largely Eurasian) red muscaria subsp. muscaria (apparently limited to part of Alaska, except for human introductions, in the Americas).

The eastern yellow muscarioid entity seems to be in the same situation except that it appears to have arisen multiple times within the American red fly agaric (A. muscaria subsp. flavivolvata Singer). The two red fly agarics will become separate species when I finish the next article with Dr. Geml. His DNA paper will appear in a journal shortly – Molceular Phylogeny and Evolution.

Very best,

Rod