This study presents the taxonomy and phylogeny of the family Incrustoporiaceae, based on comprehensive phylogenetic analyses utilising multi-gene data, including the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) and the large subunit of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU), for the accepted genera within Incrustoporiaceae. Additionally, a separate phylogenetic analysis focusing on the Skeletocutis nivea complex was performed using ITS sequences. A total of 20 new species within the genus Skeletocutis are described, namely Skeletocutis crystallina, S. cunninghamiae, S. cylindrica, S. ellipsoidea, S. flavipora, S. latemarginata, S. liangdongii, S. monocotyledona, S. montanus, S. neoalbomarginata, S. oceanica, S. ochraceocarpa, S. quercicola, S. sinica, S. sinoalbomarginata, S. sinochrysella, S. subamorpha, S. subdiluta, S. subkrawtzewii, and S. sublilacina. Detailed illustrated descriptions, voucher specimens, hosts, distribution, diagnoses, and remarks are provided for these 20 new species. Additionally, two new combinations are proposed: S. minutula and Tyromyces subodorus. Notably, our discoveries of S. oceanica and S. subdiluta in Australia underscore the significance of expanding research on Skeletocutis diversity in the Southern Hemisphere, where reports are scarce. Phylogenetic analyses also clarified the taxonomic positions of Skeletocutis and Tyromyces within the Incrustoporiaceae family, showing that Tyromyces is nested within the polyphyletic Skeletocutis clade. The morphological distinctions between Skeletocutis and Tyromyces, as well as between Skeletocutis and Sidera, are also discussed.

The Hymenochaetales is an order with most species as wood-inhabiting fungi that have high phylogenetic complexity and morphological diversity. Species in this order play important roles in forest ecosystems and include wood decomposers, pathogens, and those that form ectomycorrhizal associations. However, we have limited knowledge of the patterns of large-scale evolutionary history of the order. In this study, using 171 genomes, including 113 newly assembled, we reconstructed the phylogenomic relationships, divergence times, biogeographic patterns, morphological evolution of basidiomata, and patterns of speciation/extinction in the Hymenochaetales. The phylogenomic relationships of 12 families within the Hymenochaetales suggested that 10 families can be accepted, and 2 families rejected. Molecular clock dating analyses suggested that the Hymenochaetales possibly started a rapid family-wide and genuswide radiation during the early Cretaceous to late Jurassic and Cretaceous, respectively. Reconstruction of the ancestral state implied that Hymenochaetales probably originated from the temperate regions of Asia, with the basidiomata of the common ancestor likely being a corticioid species that rapidly transformed between the early Cretaceous and late Jurassic, coinciding with radiations at the family level. Furthermore, we detected a gradually increasing trend of speciation, extinction, and net diversification rates. We provided large-scale genomes of the Hymenochaetales and revealed evolutionary history patterns, which are key to understanding the evolution of fungi.

A survey on the diversity of wood-decay fungi in southeast Xizang was carried out from 2019 to 2023. Based on morphology, ecology, biogeography, and molecular biology, 558 species, belonging to three classes, 15 orders, 57 families, and 177 genera, were identified. One new species, Epithele miscanthi, is described. Species composition analysis showed that there were fifteen dominant families with more than 10 species. These families include 459 species, accounting for 82.26% of the total species found. Thirty-three genera with five or more species are treated as dominant genera, and 325 species were included in these genera, accounting for 58.24% of the total species. Among these, 313 species (56.09%) occurred on angiosperm wood only, 168 species (30.11%) on gymnosperm wood only, 45 species (8.06%) on both angiosperm and gymnosperm wood, 17 species (3.05%) on monocotyledons only, and only one species, Hymenochaete rheicolor, grew on both monocotyledons and dicotyledons. The highest number of species, 266 (47.67%), were found on fallen trunks, followed by fallen branches, rotten wood, stumps, dead standing trees, living trees, and charred wood with 175, 123, 116, 82, 57, and 4 species, respectively. In addition, 456 species cause a white rot and 85 species cause a brown rot, accounting for 81.72% and 15.23% of our studied species, respectively. Statistics were also made on the rotting type and the number of edible or medicinal fungi.

Wood-rotting basidiomycetes have been investigated in the Chinese forest ecosystem for the past 30 years. Two hundred and five pathogenic wood-decayers belonging to 9 orders, 30 families, and 74 genera have been found in Chinese native forests, plantations, and gardens. Seventy-two species (accounting for 35% of the total pathogenic species) are reported as pathogenic fungi in China for the first time. Among these pathogens, 184 species are polypores, nine are corticioid fungi, eight are agarics and five are hydnoid basidiomycetes. One hundred and seventy-seven species (accounting for 86%) cause white rot, while 28 species (accounting for 14%) result in brown rot; 157 species grow on angiosperm trees (accounting for 76.5%) and 44 species occur on gymnosperm trees (accounting for 21.5%), only four species inhabit both angiosperms and gymnosperms (accounting for 2%); 95 species are distributed in boreal to temperate forests and 110 in subtropical to tropical forests. In addition, 17 species, including Fomitopsis pinicola, Heterobasidion parviporum, and Phellinidium weirii etc. which were previously treated as pathogenic species in China, do not occur in China according to recent studies. In this paper, the host(s), type of forest, rot type, and distribution of each pathogenic species in China are given.