Multilocus, DNA-based phylogenetic analyses reveal three new species lineages in the Phellinus gabonensis–P. caribaeo-quercicola species complex, including P. amazonicus sp. nov.

Species complexes in the poroid Hymenochaetaceae are well documented in the temperate areas. Potential species complexes are less known in tropical areas, however. In the last ten years, four phylogenetically and morphologically closely related species of Phellinus (Hymenochaetaceae) were described from various tropical/subtropical areas viz. P. caribaeo-quercicola, P. gabonensis, P. ellipsoideus, and P. castanopsidis. They are characterized by cushion-shaped basidiomata, ventricose, commonly hamate hymenial setae, and broadly ellipsoid, thick-walled, pale yellowish basidiospores. Pursuing the studies of this complex, a phylogenetic approach based on DNA sequence data from the nuc rDNA regions ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) and partial 28S (including the domains D1, D2, D3) and on part of the translation elongation factor 1-α (tef1, region between exons 4 and 8) revealed three new lineages or phylogenetic species. Two of these phylogenetic species are composed of exclusively on Neotropical specimens. One of them, d...