Morphological and molecular identification of two new Ganoderma species on Casuarina equisetifolia from China

Ganoderma is a cosmopolitan white rot fungal genus, famous for its medicinal properties. In the present study, two new Ganoderma species were collected from south-eastern China and described on the basis of morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses of sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the translation elongation factor 1-α gene (EF1-α) and the second subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2). Specimens of both species were found on living trees of Casuarinaequisetifolia . Ganodermaangustisporum sp. nov. is characterised by its sessile basidiomata and almond-shaped, slightly truncate, narrow basidiospores (9–11.3 × 4–5.2 µm). Ganodermacasuarinicola sp. nov. is characterised by its strongly laccate reddish-brown pileal surface, luminous yellow to yellowish-brown cutis and ellipsoid, truncate basidiospores (9–10.2 × 5–6 µm). The two new species are compared with their related taxa. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed that G.angustisporum and G.casuarinicola are distinct species within Ganoderma .

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