Taxonomy And Phylogeny Of Aleurodiscus S.l.(Basidiomycota)in China

Aleurodiscus s.l.is an important kind of wood-decaying fungi,causing white-rot on gymnosperm and angiosperm wood.Some of the species have medical functions,and some can produce antibiotics.The genus together with Stereum s.l.and Xylobolus s.l.belong to Stereaceae in Russulales(Agaricomycetes,Basidiomycota).The taxonomy and phylogeny of Aleurodiscus s.l.are still unresolved,and the species diversity in mainland China is unclear.More than 300 specimens of Aleurodiscus s.l.and its related genera are studies by the traditional morphological methods and phylogenetic analyses in this study.ITS and nLSU sequences are used in the phylogenetic analyses,which are conducted by using PAUP*4.0b10 and MrBayes 3.1.2.Seven new species are discovered in this study,among which 5 species,Acanthobasidium bambusicola,Aleurodiscus effusus,A.tenuissimus,A.tropicus and A.verrucosporus were collected in China,and two species,A.dextrinoidephyses and A.thailandicus,were collected in Thailand.Three species,A.ljubarskii,A.wakefieldiae and Neoaleurodiscusfujii new to Chinese fungi flora are reported.In addition,three more undescribed species are found but have not been named and published.The combined ITS and nLSU sequences are proved to be suitable for the phylogenetic analyses of Aleurodiscus s.l.and the related genera.Except for Acanthobasidium and Aleurocystidiellum,all the other seven small genera of Aleurodiscus s.l.are not supported by the molecular evidence.Twenty-three species are Aleurodiscus s.l.and one species of Licrostroma are described and illustrated with fruiting body and microstructure photos.An identification key to all the 24 species is given.In the description of each species,voucher specimens,hosts,distributions and a short paragraph of remarks are included.The phylogenetic relationship of taxa in Stereaceae are discussed.