Southeast Xizang, situated in southwestern China, is a global biodiversity hotspot harbouring exceptionally rich fungal diversity. This study, part of the Second Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program, undertook a comprehensive survey of macrofungal diversity in the region from 2019 to 2024, resulting in the collection of over 1,600 specimens. As the second instalment in the series of “Diversity of macrofungi in southeast Xizang”, this study identified and documented 480 macrofungal species through combined morphological and molecular evidence, and they are belonging to two phyla, seven classes, 17 orders, 67 families, and 158 genera. Species composition analyses revealed 15 dominant families (each containing ≥ 10 species): Russulaceae, Agaricaceae, Cortinariaceae, Boletaceae, Inocybaceae, Hymenogastraceae, Omphalotaceae, Entolomataceae, Amanitaceae, Strophariaceae, Hygrophoraceae, Mycenaceae, Psathyrellaceae, Hydnangiaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. At the genus-level, 23 dominant genera (each containing ≥ 5 species), including Lactarius, Russula, and Cortinarius, etc., accounted for 265 species (55.21% of the total diversity). Among the documented species, 115 are edible, 15 medicinal, and 53 poisonous. Notably, the study proposed eight new species, i.e. Callistosporium motuoense, Chromosera chayuensis, Clavulinopsis motuoensis, Cudonia linzhiensis, Elaiopezia chayuensis, Sarcoleotia motuoensis, Trichoderma atrosphaericum, and Volvariella parvoalba, with detailed descriptions and illustrations.

The Xizang Autonomous Region, China, is a key ecological security barrier, renowned for its rich biodiversity and unique resources. It supports diverse life forms, including fungi, which are vital for ecological balance and the restoration of the region’s ecosystems. This study presents the results of a microfungal survey conducted on the Plateau, focusing on the orders Pleosporales and Kirschsteiniotheliales within the class Dothideomycetes. Based on morphological characteristics and multi-gene (ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1, tub2, and rpb2) phylogeny analyses, we report the discovery of 10 new taxa, including one new genus Neotriplosphaeria and nine new species, Kirschsteiniothelia linzhiensis, K. yadongensis, Neotriplosphaeria yadongensis, Periconia linzhiensis, Tetraploa linzhiensis, Torula dingjieensis, T. yadongensis, Trichobotrys motuoensis, Triseptatospora yadongensis, and one new host record Periconia spodiopogonis. The findings provide valuable insights into the morphological and phylogenetic relationships of these fungi, highlighting the Plateau’s significant role in fungal diversity. This study enriches our understanding of fungal biodiversity in extreme environments and underscores the importance of continued exploration in this region.

Geoglossomycetes is a class within the phylum Ascomycota that accommodates a single order and a single family, comprising nine genera. Geoglossomycetes is traditionally referred to as “earth tongues”. The class is characterised by tongue-shaped to clavate, stipitate, black ascomata covered with or without black setae, a swollen ascigerous portion, a cylindric stipe, filiform, septate paraphyses, cylindrical-clavate, 4–8-spored asci, and filiform or falciform, multi-septate, dark brown to hyaline ascospores. In this study, we examined 34 samples from four genera in China. Based on ecological comparisons, morphological studies, and phylogenetic analyses inferred from the combined internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and the large subunit of the ribosomal RNA gene (LSU), we introduce ten new species of Geoglossomycetes, and identify four known species. In addition, we summarise the sexual morph characters of all species within the two largest genera, Geoglossum and Trichoglossum.

Thaxterogaster is the second largest genus within the family Cortinariaceae, comprising nearly two hundred species worldwide. However, the diversity of the genus in China remains largely unknown. Based on morphological evidence and phylogenetic inference of a five-locus dataset, one hundred twelve species belonging to seven subgenera and 23 sections of Thaxterogaster were analysed. We here describe 15 of those present in China, including 8 species new to science, namely T. crassimultiformis, T. lavendulaceus, T. flavocapitatus, T. pallidopurpurascens, T. atricapitatus, T. cupreus, T. sordidus, T. alboparvus, and 1 species new to China, viz. T. indopurpurascens. Two new combinations, Thaxterogaster subgenus Vibratiles and Thaxterogaster tenuipes, are further introduced. Taxonomic descriptions and a key to the species of Thaxterogaster in Western China are provided.

The order Agaricales was divided into eight suborders. However, the phylogenetic relationships among some suborders are largely unresolved, and the phylogenetic positions and delimitations of some taxa, such as Sarcomyxaceae and Tricholomopsis, remain unsettled. In this study, sequence data of 38 genomes were generated through genome skimming on an Illumina sequencing system. To anchor the systematic position of Sarcomyxaceae and Tricholomopsis, a phylogenetic analysis based on 555 single-copy orthologous genes from the aforementioned genomes and 126 publicly accessible genomes was performed. The results fully supported the clustering of Tricholomopsis with Phyllotopsis and Pleurocybella within Phyllotopsidaceae, which formed a divergent monophyletic major lineage together with Pterulaceae, Radulomycetaceae, and Macrotyphula in Agaricales. The analysis also revealed that Sarcomyxaceae formed a unique major clade. Therefore, two new suborders, Phyllotopsidineae and Sarcomyxineae, are proposed for the two major lineages. Analyses of 450 single-copy orthologous genes and four loci suggested that Tricholomopsis consisted of at least four clades. Tricholomopsis is subsequently subdivided into four distinct sections. Seventeen Tricholomopsis species in China, including six new species, are reported. Conoloma is established to accommodate T. mucronata. The substrate preference of Tricholomopsis species and the transitions of the pileate ornamentations among the species within the genus are discussed.

“Lingzhi” is a fungus found in China for about 2000 years, renowned for its immense values in traditional Chinese medicine and culture. This fungus was generally assigned to Ganoderma lucidum, a species originally described from the UK. In the mid-nineties of the twentieth century, molecular phylogenetic analyses indicated that collections named G. lucidum in East Asia were in most cases not conspecific with G. lucidum found in Europe. However, the scientific name for the “lingzhi” found in China remained unclarified ever since. To clarify the identity of this fungus, two groups of Chinese mycologists have simultaneously gathered morphological and molecular evidence. One group concluded that “lingzhi” belonged to G. sichuanense, a species which was collected from Sichuan, a province in southwestern China, while the other group stated that the “lingzhi” is an undescribed species and, thus, named it as G. lingzhi. Our molecular phylogenetic evidence showed that G. lucidum s. str. occurs not only in northwestern and northeastern China but also in the highlands of southwestern China, where it has been commercially cultivated. In other words, both G. lucidum s. str. and G. lingzhi occur in natural environments in China, where they have been cultivated. Due to the phenotypic plasticity and morphological stasis, DNA sequence data play a vital role in characterizing the species within the G. lucidum-complex. Because the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence has been successfully generated only once from the holotype of G. sichuanense, it suggests that the DNA in the holotype might have been largely digested. To settle the disputation and to clarify the relationships and taxonomic issues among G. lingzhi, G. sichuanense, G. sinense and other species in the complex, an epitype for G. sichuanense and for G. sinense from their type locality should be selected, and nucleotide sequences of more informative DNA markers should be used to delimit the species in the complex in the near future. In view of its economic, medicinal and cultural importance, the widely cultivated G. lingzhi is nominated as the fungus of the year (2013) for the journal Mycology.