Wood-inhabiting Fungi in Tieling,Liaoning Province

Wood-inhabiting fungi from Chengzishan and Binglashan Forest Park of Tieling, Liaoning Province,were investigated, and 70 species, belonging to 9 families in Basidiomycota, were found. Thirteen species,including Fomitiporia punctata, Funalia trogii, Ganoderma lipsiense, Inonotus hispidus, Inonotus radiatus,Inonotus pruinosus, Phylloporia ribis, Daedaleopsis confragosa, Oxyporus populinus, Pholiota squarrosa,Schizophyllum commone, Spongipellis spumeus, Trametes suaveolens are pathogens of living trees in thestudy area. A list of all species, including host(s) of each species, is given, and most of the species arereported for the first time in the province. The major elements of wood-inhabiting fungi in northernLiaoning are the species which are widely distributed in temperate forests. Almost no virgin forests werefound in Liaoning, therefore, the major part of the species is the common wood-inhabiting fungi, and onlya few rare species were found in the study area.

Taxonomy and phylogeny of Hymenochaete and allied genera of Hymenochaetaceae (Basidiomycota) in China

The taxonomy and phylogeny of Hymenochaete and its allied genera in Hymenochaetaceae in China are studied based on morphological characters and molecular analysis.The morphology of more than 1200 specimens were studied and 123 ITS sequences(including 104 new sequences)of 71 taxa and 94 nLSU rDNA sequences(including 51 new sequences)of 78 taxa of Hymenochaetaceae were used in the phylogenetic analysis.Three new species,Hymenochaete huangshanensis,H.minor and H.tropica are introduced.The genus Pseudochaete is supported by the data presented here,with inclusion of an additional seven species transferred herein from Hymenochaete,Hydnochaete and Cyclomyces.Three species of Hydnochaete and two species of Cyclomyces studied nested within the Hymenochaete clade,and combinations of five species from the two former genera to Hymenochaete are proposed.According to our results,Hymenochaete is a morphologically variable genus composed of taxa with corticioid,hydnoid,lamellate and poroid hymenophores,and this would be the same for Pseudochaete with more taxa included.Fifty species of Hymenochaete and eight species of Pseudochaete have so far been found in China,and identification keys to the two genera are provided.

The Caucasian corticioid fungi:level of endemism,similarity,and possible contribution to European fungal diversity

We assess the composition of corticioid fungi in the Caucasus region for the first time.The Caucasian corticioids were compared with those of well-documented areas in the Northern Hemisphere using the Tripartite similarity index and cluster analysis.To investigate the significance of the Caucasus region as a possible contributor to the colonization of wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes in Europe,DNA sequences of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers(ITS1 and ITS2)belonging to the corticioid fungus Peniophorella praetermissa were analysed for comparisons of genetic diversity within and differentiation between geographical regions.Putative species endemism and disjunction of corticioids in the Caucasus region is also discussed.The composition of corticioid fungi in the Caucasus region was found to be distinctly more similar to Europe and North America than to East Asia and India.Similarity tests and molecular Fsts both point to a strong connection between the Caucasus and Europe.The highest molecular diversity in P.praetermissa was in the Caucasus and East Asia as compared with other regions studied.The Caucasus and East Asia were significantly differentiated from each other,and unlike Caucasian samples,East Asian sequences were highly divergent from the European ones.This result suggests that the Caucasus might have been a source of colonization for Europe.Endemism is very low,possibly a common feature for wood-inhabiting saprotrophic fungi.