Xylodon asiaticus (Hymenochaetales, Basidiomycota), a new species of corticioid fungus from southern China

The corticioid fungi are a cosmopolitan group and show a rich diversity, growing in the vegetation of boreal, temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions. Xylodon asiaticus specimens were found in the Yunnan Province, China, which identified here to be a new species by their morphology and phylogeny. Xylodon asiaticus is characterized by its coriaceous basidiomata with a hydnoid hymenophore and a monomitic hyphal system bearing generative hyphae with clamp connections, and ellipsoid to subcylindrical basidiospores measuring as 4-5.2 x 2.8-3.5 mu m. Phylogenetic analyses of the order Hymenochaetale and the genus Xylodon based on the ITS and nLSU rRNA sequences were performed using the Maximum Likelihood, Maximum Parsimony, and Bayesian Inference methods. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that the new species nested into the family Schizoporaceae, and was retrieved as a sister to X. pseudotropicus. However, morphologically, X. pseudotropicus differs from X. asiaticus by its poroid hymenial surface and oblong-ellipsoid basidiospores (Zhao et al. 2014).