Morphology and multi-locus phylogeny reveal 23 fungal taxa from terrestrial habitats.

Fungi are ubiquitous organisms that play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning and biotechnology. New fungal discoveries from diverse parts and habitats worldwide significantly contribute to the understanding of fungal diversity. Micro- and macro-fungi samples collected from terrestrial habitats in China, India, Italy, and Pakistan were subjected to morphological and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses. The results revealed several new species and new records. Based on the results, we introduce 16 new fungal species, viz. Agaricus ferruginosquamulis, Amanita bengalensis, Candolleomyces striatus, Conferticium yunnanense, Diplodia yunnanensis, Hymenopellis himalayana, H. kashmirensis, Kirschsteiniothelia hongheensi, Phaeoisaria xishuangbannaensis, Phaeosphaeriopsis agave, Phialoarthrobotryum jeewonii, Pseudocercospora cordifoliana, Pseudosperma aranyakum, Roussoella bambusicola, Sporidesmium duyunense, and Tropicoporus chennaiensis. There are seven new host or geographical records for Agaricus thujae, Candolleomyces eurysporus, C. sulcatotuberculosus, Diplodia acerigena, Phaeographis decipiens, Pseudocoleodictyospora sukhothaiensis, and Russula yanshanensis. Descriptions, illustrations, and phylogenetic analyses results for the 23 taxa are provided, and the new taxa are compared with their closely related taxa.