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

Abstract

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 Casuarina equisetifolia. Ganoderma angustisporum sp. nov. is characterised by its sessile basidiomata and almond-shaped, slightly truncate, narrow basidiospores (9–11.3 × 4–5.2 µm). Ganoderma casuarinicola 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.