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Recent technological developments may facilitate the description of evolutionary relationships and population genetic structure as well as other information relevant to fisheries management by using readily available natural history collections. Contemporary sequence capture and short‐read sequencing methods offer opportunities to analyze highly fragmented DNA from formalin‐fixed specimens so long as enough DNA of sufficient quality is recovered. We compared two protocols developed to extract DNA from formalin‐fixed tissues using specimens of three freshwater fishes: the Southern Brook Lamprey Ichthyomyzon gagei, Slimy Sculpin Cottus cognatus, and Brown Trout Salmo trutta. Extractions were attempted using hot alkali digestion with and without buffer wash pretreatments to compare the DNA concentration, purity, and fragment length of DNA recovered between extraction protocols, tissue types (muscle and caudal fin tissue for Brown Trout and Slimy Sculpin), and preservation periods (5 or 7 years for Southern Brook Lamprey). Likelihood models generally did not detect DNA quantity differences between extraction protocols nor tissue types; however, 6.0–8.7× more DNA was recovered from Slimy Sculpin caudal fins than from muscle tissue. Extraction protocol had mixed effects on DNA purity; the wash protocol outperformed the no‐wash protocol for Slimy Sculpin and Brown Trout, but the reverse was true for the lamprey. Purer DNA was recovered from the caudal fins; however, fragment lengths were generally greater from muscle tissue for both ray‐finned species. Our results suggest that the best tissue for sampling may depend on the quality metric considered most important for a study's objectives and that omitting time‐consuming tissue wash steps can yield DNA of quantity and quality comparable to DNA from more complex methods. Regardless of species, the DNA extracted from most samples using both protocols met quantity and quality thresholds that are likely to result in short‐read sequencing success. These results provide optimism for unlocking the wealth of genetic information in natural history collections for use in fisheries management and conservation genomics. Impact statementContemporary sequence capture and short‐read sequencing methods may facilitate inference of evolutionary relationships, population genetic structure, and other information relevant to fisheries management from formalin‐fixed natural history collections as long as enough DNA of sufficient quality is recovered. We assessed extraction protocols for two ray‐finned fishes and one lamprey, and determined factors likely to result in sequencing success. Contemporary sequence capture and short‐read sequencing methods may facilitate inference of evolutionary relationships, population genetic structure, and other information relevant to fisheries management from formalin‐fixed natural history collections as long as enough DNA of sufficient quality is recovered. We assessed extraction protocols for two ray‐finned fishes and one lamprey, and determined factors likely to result in sequencing success.

Lactarius(Russulales) is an important component of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in cold-dominated contiguous arctic and disjunct alpine habitats where it associates primarily with Betula, Dryasand Salix. However, little is known of this genus in the central and southern Rocky Mountain alpine zone (3000–3900 m) of North America. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS barcode) and the second largest subunit of the RNA polymerase II gene (RPB2) partial sequences in conjunction with detailed morphological examination confirm at least six species occurring above treeline. Most have intercontinental distributions in North America and Eurasia according to molecular comparison with type material and collections from Europe, Fennoscandia, Svalbard and Alaska. Rocky Mountain collections of L. lanceolatus(subgenus Russularia), along with the type from Alaska are paraphyletic with respect to L. aurantiacusand North American taxa L. luculentusand L. luculentusv. laetus. Rocky Mountain collections of L. nanus, L. glyciosmus, L. repraesentaneusand L. salicis-reticulatae(subgenus Piperites) all form clades with European material from type localities and other arctic-alpine habitats. The arctic-alpine L. pseudouvidus/L. brunneoviolaceusgroup appears to be a complex containing additional taxa. North American material originally described as part of this group is well-separated phylogenetically and is described here as L. pallidomarginatussp. nov. Lactarius lanceolatus, L. nanusand L. salicis-reticulataeappear largely restricted to arctic-alpine habitats with Salix. Lactarius glyciosmusand L. repraesentaneusoccur in arctic-alpine, subalpine and boreal habitats with Betulaand also Piceaand possibly Salixfor the latter. Species distributions are hypothesized to be shaped by host ranges, glaciation and long distance dispersal.

Solioccasus polychromusgen. & sp. nov., the most brightly colored hypogeous fungus known, is described from Papua New Guinea and tropical northern Australia south into subtropical forests along the Queensland coast and coastal mountains to near Brisbane. Phylogenetic analysis of molecular data places it as a sister genus to Bothiain the Boletineae, a clade of predominantly ectomycorrhizal boletes. Ectomycorrhizal trees, such as members of the Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Lophostemon, Melaleucaspp.) and Allocasuarina littoralis, were present usually in mixture or in some cases dominant, so we infer some or all of them to be among the ectomycorrhizal hosts of S. polychromus.