Phlebia nigrodontea sp. nov. in Meruliaceae (Polyporales) with a black hymenial surface

A new wood-inhabiting fungus, Phlebia nigrodontea, is proposed based on a combination of morphological features and molecular evidence. The species is characterized by a grandinioid hymenophore with vinaceous brown to black colour, a monomitic hyphal system with clamped generative hyphae and ellipsoid, colourless, thin-walled, smooth basidiospores (3.9–4.9 × 2.3–3.1 µm). Sequences of ITS and LSU nrRNA gene regions of the studied samples were generated, and phylogenetic analyses carried out using maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference methods. The phylogenetic analyses based on the molecular data of ITS+nLSU sequences showed that P. nigrodontea nested within the phlebioid clade. A further investigation of more representative taxa from Phlebia, based on ITS+nLSU sequences, demonstrated that the species P. nigrodontea formed a monophyletic lineage with strong support (100% BS, 100% BT, 1.00 BPP) and closely grouped with P. chrysocreas.