Revising the Taxonomic Placement of Within the Laetiporaceae

The fungus currently known as is a recognizable brown-rot decayer that is widespread on oak hosts in the southeastern United States. This species was first described as in 1872 based on collections by Henry W. Ravenel from South Carolina. In this study, we elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of a four-locus data set (18S, 28S, , and ) from taxa within the Fomitopsidaceae and Laetiporaceae. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was analyzed separately because it was not possible to align this locus across a diverse data set that included taxa from multiple families. Our analysis and previous studies indicate that does not belong to sensu stricto, and we found a strongly supported relationship between and the African species , despite the fact that the 28S phylogeny resolved a different (but unsupported) topology. Here, we propose , comb. nov., based on a combination of morphological and molecular data. shares many morphological features with that are missing in other species, including centrally stipitate basidiomata, a brown to pinkish pileus surface, and a pore layer that bruises when touched. However, and differ in basidiospore size and shape as well as their geographic distributions. We provide a revised taxonomic treatment for this common wood-decay fungus.