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Research Article
Morphological and molecular identification for two new wood-inhabiting species of Botryobasidium (Basidiomycota) from China
expand article infoXin Li‡§, Xin Zhang§, Yi-Fei Sun§, Zhen-Hao Li|, An-Hong Zhu#§, Ying-Da Wu‡
‡ Ministry of Emergency Management, China Fire and Rescue Institute, Beijing, China
§ Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| Zhejiang Shouxiangu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Jinhua, China
¶ Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Biological Breeding and Exploitation of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms, Jinhua, China
# Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Wenchang, China

Corresponding author: An-Hong Zhu ( anhong.zhu@catas.cn )

Corresponding author: Ying-Da Wu ( wydbjfu@163.com )

Academic editor: Samantha C. Karunarathna
© 2025 Xin Li, Xin Zhang, Yi-Fei Sun, Zhen-Hao Li, An-Hong Zhu, Ying-Da Wu.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Li X, Zhang X, Sun Y-F, Li Z-H, Zhu A-H, Wu Y-D (2025) Morphological and molecular identification for two new wood-inhabiting species of Botryobasidium (Basidiomycota) from China. MycoKeys 116: 73-89. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.116.143594
Open Access

Abstract

The wood-inhabiting fungi refer to large basidiomycetes that grow on various woody materials and are distributed in various forest ecosystems, some of which have important economic value. In the present study, two new resupinate, adnate, wood-inhabiting fungal taxa, Botryobasidium latihyphum and B. zhejiangensis, are introduced based on morphological and molecular characteristics. A molecular phylogenetic study based on sequence data from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and the large subunit (nLSU) regions supported the two new species in the genus Botryobasidium. Maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP), and Bayesian inference (BIBI) were employed to perform phylogenetic analyses of these datasets. The new species B. latihyphum is characterized by its cream hymenial surface when fresh, olivaceous buff when dry, a monomitic hyphal system with clamp connections, the presence of clavate to tubular cystidia, basidia with six sterigmata, and broadly oval basidiospores measuring 7.9–10.2 × 3.2–4.3 μm. Botryobasidium zhejiangensis sp. nov. is characterized by its white to buff-yellow hymenial surface when fresh, cream when dry, a monomitic hyphal system with clamp connections, lacking cystidia, basidia with six sterigmata, and broadly navicular basidiospores measuring 7.9–9.2 × 2.6–3.4 μm. The phylogenetic result inferred from ITS + nLSU sequence data revealed that B. latihyphum is closely related to B. vagum, B. laeve, B. subincanum, and B. incanum, while B. zhejiangensis is closely related to B. leptocystidiatum, B. subcoronatum, B. xizangense, and B. intertextum.

Key words:

Botryobasidiaceae, new species, phylogeny, taxonomy, wood-rotting fungi

Introduction

The wood-inhabiting fungi are large basidiomycetes that grow on various woody materials and have a global distribution (Wu et al. 2022a; Bian et al. 2023; Dong et al. 2023; Zhao et al. 2024). The wood-inhabiting fungi play an important role in maintaining the dynamic balance of energy and matter in forest ecosystems, and some of them have important economic values (Dai et al. 2007; Zhao et al. 2012; Dai et al. 2015; Wu et al. 2019; Dai et al. 2021; Yuan et al. 2023; Zhou et al. 2023a; Dong et al. 2024a). Botryobasidium (Botryobasidiaceae, Basidiomycota), typified by B. subcoronatum (Höhn. & Litsch.) Donk, is a wood-inhabiting fungal genus with simple macro-morphology. It is characterized by annual, resupinate basidiomata with smooth, pellicular, hypochnoid, or arachnoid hymenophores; a monomitic hyphae system; generative hyphae bearing simple septa or clamp connections, branched mostly at a right angle; basidia with 2–8 sterigmata; smooth or ornamented basidiospores; and causing a white rot (Donk 1964; Langer et al. 2000b; Moncalvo et al. 2006; Xiong et al. 2009).

In the earliest classification system, Botryobasidium species were treated in Corticium Pers. based on microscopic morphological characteristics; Donk (1931) proposed Botryobasidium for the species with four sterigmata on basidia and basidiospores strongly ornamented with rodlets. Many species of Botryobasidium in the conidial state belong to the genus Oidium Link (Eriksson and Ryvarden 1973). Later, Langer conducted a detailed morphological study, revising the genus based on global samples and identifying 49 species within Botryobasidium (Langer et al. 2000a, b). Numerous Botryobasidium species exhibited anamorphic stages (Bernicchia and Gorjón 2010). Multiple asexual morph genera viz., Acladium Link, Allescheriella Henn., Alysidium Kunze, Haplotrichum Link, Neoacladium P.N. Singh & S.K. Singh, Physospora Fr., and Sporocephalium Chevall. exhibit congeneric relationships with Botryobasidium, prompting their taxonomic reclassification under the genus Botryobasidium (Stalpers et al. 2021; Dong et al. 2024b).

Phylogenetically, the genus Botryobasidium is a well-supported monophyletic group closely related to Tulasnella J. Schröt., Clavulina J. Schröt., and Sistotrema Fr., but the former differed from the latter three genera by having wider hyphae and lacking oil droplets in basidia and basidiospores (Hibbett et al. 1997; Kotiranta and Saarenoksa 2005; Yuan et al. 2011).

So far, 115 species of Botryobasidium have been discovered worldwide (Langer 1994; Parmasto et al. 2004; Ryvarden et al. 2005; Xiong et al. 2009; Bernicchia et al. 2010; Bates et al. 2017; Ram et al. 2021; Stalpers et al. 2021; Zhou et al. 2024a), among them 17 were reported in China (Langer et al. 2000a, 2000b; Xiong et al. 2009; Dong et al. 2024b; Zhou et al. 2024a). During investigations on the diversity of wood-rotting fungi, four Botryobasidium-like samples were collected. Phylogenetic analyses based on the ITS and nLSU sequences were carried out to confirm their taxonomic status. Morphological and molecular evidence confirmed that the four examined specimens belong to two distinct new Botryobasidium species.

Materials and methods

Morphological studies

Fresh fruiting bodies of the fungi were collected from Linzhi of Xizang Autonomous Region and Jinhua of Zhejiang Province, China. After the important collection information was noted (Rathnayaka et al. 2024), the samples were taken to the laboratory at the Institute of Microbiology, Beijing Forestry University (BJFC), in plastic collection boxes. Specimens were dried in a mushroom dryer at 35 °C (Hu et al. 2022), then sealed and stored in an envelope bag. Examined specimens were deposited in the Fungarium of the Institute of Microbiology, Beijing Forestry University (BJFC), Beijing, China. Morphological descriptions were based on field notes and dried specimens. Micro-morphological data were obtained from dried specimens and observed under a compound microscope following Dai (2010) and Li et al. (2014). Sections were studied at a magnification of 1000 × using a Nikon E80i microscope and phase contrast illumination (Nikon, Tokyo, Japan). Line drawings were made with the aid of a drawing tube.

The following abbreviations were used in the descriptions: KOH = 5% potassium hydroxide, IKI = Melzer’s reagent, IKI– = neither amyloid nor dextrinoid, CB = Cotton Blue, CB+ = cyanophilous, CB– = acyanophilous, L = mean spore length (arithmetic average of all spores), W = mean basidiospore width (arithmetic average of all spores), Q = variation in the L/W ratios between the specimens studied, n (a/b) = number of basidiospores (a) measured from the given number of specimens (b). In presenting basidiospore size variation, 5% of measurements were excluded from each end of the range, and these values were given in parentheses. Special color is termed follow Anonymous (1969) and Petersen (1996).

DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction amplification, and sequencing

Total genomic DNA from the dried specimens was extracted by a Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) rapid plant genome extraction kit (Aidlab Biotechnologies Company Limited, Beijing, China) according to the manufacturer’s instructions with some modifications (Du et al. 2021). ITS locus was amplified using the primer pair ITS4 (TCCTCC GCT TAT TGA TAT GC) and ITS5 (GGA AGT AAA AGT CGT AAC AAG G) (White et al. 1990), while nLSU locus was amplified with primers LR0R (ACC CGC TGA ACT TAA GC) and LR7 (TAC TAC CAC CAA GAT CT) (Vilgalys and Hester 1990).

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification conditions for ITS were an initial denaturation at 95 °C for 3 min, followed by 35 cycles at 94 °C for 40 s, 54 °C for 45 s, and 72 °C for 1 min, and a final extension at 72 °C for 10 min (Zhao et al. 2015), and for nLSU were initial denaturation at 94 °C for 1 min, followed by 35 cycles of denaturation at 94 °C for 30 s, at 48 °C for 1 min, and extension at 72 °C for 1.5 min, and a final extension at 72 °C for 10 min. The PCR products were purified and sequenced in the Beijing Genomics Institute, China, with the same primers used in the PCR reactions.

Phylogenetic analyses

The species, specimens, and GenBank accession numbers of the sequences used in this study are shown in Table 1.

Table 1.
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List of species, specimens, and GenBank accession numbers of the sequences used in this study. New species are in bold, * indicates type material, holotype, and - refers to the data unavailability.

Species name Samples Country GenBank Accession no.
ITS nLSU
Botryobasidium acanthosporum Yuan 17989 China PP229511 -
B. acanthosporum Yuan 18083* China PP229512 PP218361
B. acanthosporum Yuan 18128 China PP229517 -
B. acanthosporum Yuan 16326 China PP229497 -
B. asperulum RAS552 USA OR471090 OR470959
B. asperulum RAS578 USA OR471100 OR470964
B. aureum RAS571 SV2 USA OR471099 -
B. aureum RAS571 SV1 USA OR471098 -
B. bambusinum CLZhao 29938 China PQ539059 PQ539062
B. bambusinum CLZhao 29936 China PQ539058 PQ539061
B. bambusinum CLZhao 29916* China PQ539057 PQ539060
B. botryosum AFTOL-ID 604 USA DQ267124 DQ089013
B. candicans UC2022891 USA KP814227 -
B. candicans UC2022893 USA KP814200 -
B. candicans HFRG_LG230226_1_FRDBI_29580226 UK OR896129 -
B. coniferarum LWZ20210928-3* China OR557259 OR527282
B. coniferarum LWZ20171016-15 China OR557262 OR527286
B. conspersum AFTOL-ID 1766 USA DQ911612 DQ521414
B. conspersum RAS259 USA OR471145 -
B. gossypirubiginosum CLZhao 26052* China OR668924 OR708665
B. gossypirubiginosum Dai 26208 China PQ285750 -
B. incanum Dai 25375 China PQ285751 PQ28566
B. incanum CLZhao 26697 China OR668923 OR708664
B. indicum Yuan 18434 China PP209217 PP218365
B. indicum hr5326 China OP806032 -
B. intertextum UC2022959 18S USA KP814540 -
B. laeve RAS762 USA OR471128 PP959648
B. latihyphum Dai 26858* China PQ279526 PQ282521
B. latihyphum Yuan 16496 China PP331854 PP218153
B. leptocystidiatum Yuan 17706 China PP209200 PP218353
B. leptocystidiatum Yuan 17708* China PP209197 PP218354
B. robustius CBS:945.69 Czech MH859491 MH871272
B. robustius iNaturalist 162067551 USA PP436446 -
B. rubiginosum RAS776 taxon1 USA OR471136 -
B. simile RAS793 USA OR471147 -
B. simile RAS794 USA OR471146 -
B. subcoronatum RAS770 SV1 USA OR471132 -
B. subcoronatum RAS770 SV2 USA OR471133 -
B. subovalibasidium Yuan 16439 China PP209199 PP218152
B. subovalibasidium Yuan 18179* China PP209196 PP218362
B. subincanum LWZ20230417-17b China PP959661 PP959649
B. subincanum LWZ20230417-41a China PP959660 -
B. tubulicystidium DK14 139 USA OL436769 -
B. vagum LWZ20191016-22 USA PP959659 PP959648
B. xizangense LWZ20230722-25a* China PP959663 PP959650
B. xizangense LWZ20230722-16a China PP959662 -
B. yunnanense CLZhao 24877* China OR708666 OR668925
B. zhejiangensis Dai 25056* China PQ279530 PQ282525
B. zhejiangensis Dai 24851 China PQ279529 PQ282524
Lyomyces allantosporus FR 0249548 France NR_154135 -
L. pruni GEL2327 Germany DQ340312 -

For the phylogenetic analyses, the combined two-marker dataset (ITS+nLSU) included sequences from 57 samples representing 20 taxa. Lyomyces allantosporus Riebesehl et al. and Lyomyces pruni (Lasch) Riebesehl & Langer were chosen as the outgroups (Spirin et al. 2015; Riebesehl and Langer 2017; Chen and Zhao 2020). Sequences generated from this study were aligned with additional sequences downloaded from GenBank using BioEdit (Hall 1999) and ClustalX (Thompson et al. 1997). The final ITS and nLSU datasets were subsequently aligned using MAFFT v.7 under the E-INS-i strategy with no cost for opening gaps and equal cost for transformations (command line: mafft –genafpair –maxiterate 1,000) (Katoh and Standley 2013) and visualized in BioEdit. Alignments were spliced and transformed into formats in Mesquite v.3.2 (Maddison and Maddison 2017). Sequence alignments were deposited at TreeBASE (submission ID 32008, www.treebase.org). The best-fit evolutionary model was estimated using MrModeltest v.2.3 (Posada and Crandall 1998) as GTR + I + G for the combined dataset.

Maximum likelihood (ML) analyses were conducted using RAxML-HPC2 via the CIPRES Science Gateway (www.phylo.org; Miller et al. 2010). Branch support (BT) for ML analysis was determined by 1,000 bootstrap replicates. The maximum parsimony (MP) analysis was applied to the ITS+nLSU dataset sequences. The construction was performed in PAUP* v. 4.0b10 (Swofford 2002). All characters were equally weighted, and gaps were treated as missing data. Trees were inferred using the heuristic search option with TBR branch swapping and 1,000 random sequence additions. Max-trees was set to 5,000, branches of zero length were collapsed, and all parsimonious trees were saved. Clade robustness was assessed by a bootstrap (BT) analysis with 1,000 replicates (Felsenstein 1985). Descriptive tree statistics, i.e., tree length (TL), consistency index (CI), retention index (RI), rescaled consistency index (RC), and homoplasy index (HI), were calculated for each maximum parsimonious tree (MPT) generated. The BI analysis was calculated with MrBayes v.3.1.2 with a general time reversible (GTR) model of DNA substitution and a gamma distribution rate variation across sites (Ronquist and Huelsenbeck 2003). Four Markov chains were run for 2 runs from random starting trees for 2 million generations, and trees were sampled every 100 generations. The first 25% of sampled trees were set as burn-in. A majority rule consensus tree of all remaining trees was calculated. The maximum likelihood bootstrap support value (BS), the maximum parsimony bootstrap support value (BT), and Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPP) simultaneously not less than 50%, 75%, and 0.95, respectively, were shown at the nodes.

Results

Phylogenetic analyses

The combined dataset of ITS+nLSU contained sequences from 47 fungal specimens representing 25 Botryobasidium taxa (2 new species and another 23 taxa). The combined dataset has an aligned length of 2,027 characters, of which 1,431 characters are constant, 126 are variable and parsimony uninformative, and 470 are parsimony informative. The MP analysis yielded two equally most parsimonious trees (TL = 1,672, CI = 0.587, RI = 0.856, RC = 0.502, HI = 0.413). The Bayesian analysis and MP analysis resulted in a similar topology as the ML analysis. The ML tree is provided in Fig. 1. The average SD of split frequencies in BI analyses is 0.002852 (BI). Two new species, B. latihyphum and B. zhejiangensis, were proposed based on examining type materials and phylogenetic analyses (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. 

Maximum Likelihood tree illustrating the phylogeny of Botryobasidium based on combined ITS + nLSU sequence data. Branches are labeled with maximum likelihood bootstrap proportions equal to or higher than 50%, maximum parsimony bootstrap equal to or higher than 75%, and Bayesian posterior probabilities equal to or higher than 0.95. The red star represents the type species. The new species are in bold black.

The top five BLAST results for the ITS of Botryobasidium latihyphum on NCBI are Botryobasidium sp. (PP229498), Botryobasidium sp. (KP814226), uncultured Corticiales (FJ475677), Botryobasidium sp. (KP814344), and Botryobasidium sp (KP814346); the top five BLAST results for the nLSU of B. latihyphum on NCBI are Botryobasidium sp. (PP218153), Botryobasidium sp. (OR470952), B. incanum (OR708664), B. vagum (OR470970), and Botryobasidium sp. (OR470958); the top five BLAST results for the ITS of Botryobasidium zhejiangensis on NCBI are Botryobasidium sp. (OR471085), B. vagum (OR471082), B. vagum (MK809424), B. subcoronatum (MK809424), and B. subcoronatum (MK795129); and the top five BLAST results for the nLSU of B. zhejiangensis on NCBI are B. subcoronatum (OM083971), B. vagum (OR470953), B. subcoronatum (OR470950), B. subcoronatum (EU909344), and B. subcoronatum (OR470954).

Taxonomy

Botryobasidium latihyphum Xin Li, Y.J. Cui & Y.D. Wu, sp. nov.

MycoBank No: 856838
Figs 2, 3

Holotype.

China • Xizang Autonomous Region., Linzhi, Metuo County, the road 219 from Metuo to Bome, on fallen trunk of Abies, 25 October 2023, Dai 26858 (BJFC044409).

Figure 2. 

A basidioma of Botryobasidium latihyphum (Dai 26858). Scale bar: 1 cm.

Etymology.

Latihyphum refers to the characteristic wide subicular hyphae of the new species.

Figure 3. 

Microscopic structures of Botryobasidium latihyphum (drawn from the holotype Dai 26858) a basidiospores b basidia c basidioles d cystidia e subicular hyphae. Scale bars: 5 μm (a); 10 μm (b–e).

Description.

Basidiomata : Annual, resupinate, adnate, hypochnoid, difficult to separate from substrate, up to 10 cm long, 4 cm wide, 1 mm thick at center, without odor and taste when fresh and dry; hymenophore white to cream when fresh, smooth, uncracked, cream to olivaceous buff when dry; sterile margin indistinct, thinning out, concolorous with hymenophore.

Hyphal system : Monomitic, clamp connections present, generative hyphae CB+, IKI–; tissues unchanged in KOH; subhymenial hyphae slightly thick-walled, smooth, frequently branched at right angles, loosely interwoven, 5–7 µm in diam.; subicular hyphae thick-walled, smooth, frequently branched, 7–10 µm in diam.

Hymenium : Cystidia clavate to tubular, infrequent, smooth, thin-walled, colorless, with a basal clamp connection, aseptate, CB+, IKI–, unchanged in KOH, 56–105 × 7–10 μm; basidia slightly barrel-shaped, thin-walled, with six sterigmata and a clamp connection at the base, 17–25 × 6–8.5 μm; basidioles in shape similar to basidia, but slightly smaller.

Spores : Basidiospores oval, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, CB+, IKI–, (7.0–)7.9–10.2(–10.3) × (3.1–)3.2–4.3(–4.4) um, L = 8.78 um, W = 3.64 um, Q = 2.41 (n = 60/2).

Botryobasidium zhejiangensis Xin Li, A.H. Zhu, Yuan Yuan & Y.D. Wu, sp. nov.

MycoBank No: 856839
Figs 4, 5

Holotype.

China • Zhejiang Province, Jinhua, Wuyi County, Guodong Village, on rotten wood of Pinus massoniana, 18 June 2023, Dai 25056 (BJFC 042609).

Figure 4. 

Basidiomata of Botryobasidium zhejiangensis (Dai 25056). Scale bar: 1 cm.

Etymology.

Zhejiangensis refers to the type location, Zhejiang Province, East China.

Figure 5. 

Microscopic structures of Botryobasidium zhejiangensis (drawn from the holotype Dai 24851) a basidiospores b basidia c basidioles d subicular hyphae. Scale bars: 5 μm (a); 10 μm (b–d).

Description.

Basidiomata : Annual, resupinate, adnate, pellicular, difficult to separate from substrate, up to 11 cm long, 7 cm wide, 1 mm thick, without odor and taste when fresh; hymenophore white to cream, smooth, uncracked, cream to slightly buff when dry; sterile margin indistinct, thinning out, concolorous with hymenophore.

Hyphal system : Monomitic, generative hyphae with clamp connections, CB+, IKI–; tissues unchanged in KOH. Subhymenial hyphae hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, frequently branched at right angles, loosely interwoven, 4–6 µm in diam.; subicular hyphae hyaline, slightly thick-walled, smooth, frequently branched, 6–8 µm in diam.

Hymenium : Basidia slightly barrel-shaped, hyaline, thin-walled, with six sterigmata and a basal clamp connection, 15–19 × 5–6 μm; basidioles in shape similar to basidia, but smaller.

Spores : Basidiospores more or less navicular, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, CB+, IKI–, (7.8–)7.9–9.2(–9.5) × (2.5–)2.6–3.4(–3.5) μm, L = 8.47 μm, W = 3.05 μm, Q = 2.78 (n = 60/2).

Discussion

Prior to this study, 17 Botryobasidium species, viz., B. acanthosporum L.J. Zhou & H.S. Yuan, B. arachnoideum G. Langer, B. asterosporum, G. Langer, B. coniferarum S.L. Liu & L.W. Zhou, B. gossypirubiginosum Qian Zhou & C.L. Zhao, B. grandisporum G. Langer, B. incanum Qian Zhou & C.L. Zhao, B. leptocystidiatum L.J. Zhou & H.S. Yuan, B. longisporum G. Langer, B. musisporum G. Langer, B. subincanum S.L. Liu & L.W. Zhou, B. sublaeve G. Langer, B. subovalibasidium L.J. Zhou & H.S. Yuan, B. tuberculisporum G. Langer, B. tubulicystidium G. Langer, B. xizangense S.L. Liu & L.W. Zhou and B. yunnanense Qian Zhou & C.L. Zhao were reported from China (Lentz 1967; Jung 1995; Kalinina et al. 2020; Cao et al. 2021; Zhou et al. 2024a). In this study, a large number of specimens were collected from Xizang and Zhejiang provinces in China, and two new species were presented according to morphological and phylogenetic evidence, which further improved the genus diversity of Botryobasidium in China.

In the present study, the phylogenetic analyses using the combined ITS + nLSU dataset produced a well-resolved phylogeny (Fig. 1). Botryobasidium latihyphum and B. zhejiangensis formed two well-supported lineages (100% in ML, 100% in MP, and 1.00 in BI; 99% in ML, 97% in MP, and 1.00 in BI). The phylogeny analyses revealed that Botryobasidium latihyphum is related to B. vagum (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) D.P. Rogers, B. laeve (J. Erikss.) Parmasto, B. subincanum, and B. incanum (Figure 1). However, B. vagum is readily distinguished from B. latihyphum by having reticulate to floccose hymenophore, wider basidiospores (4.5–6 µm vs. 3.2–4.3 µm, Bernicchia and Gorjón 2010), and lacking clamp connection; B. laeve differs from B. latihyphum by cylindrical basidia and shorter basidiospore (5–8 µm vs. 7.9–10.2 μm); B. subincanum differs from B. latihyphum by having simple septate hyphae, longer basidia (8–11 µm vs. 6–8.5 μm) and widder basidiospore (4–5 µm vs. 3.2–4.3 μm, Wang et al. 2024a); B. incanum differs from B. latihyphum by having arachnoid hymenophore, basidia with four sterigmata, and lacking clamp connection (Zhou et al. 2024a). Morphologically, Botryobasidium danicum J. Erikss & Hjortstam is similar to B. latihyphum by sharing a hypochnoid hymenial surface and subcylindrical basidia with six sterigmata. However, B. danicum differs from B. latihyphum by having simple septate hyphae and navicular and longer basidiospores (12–14 µm vs. 7.9–10.2 µm, Bernicchia and Gorjón 2010).

In the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 1), Botryobasidium zhejiangensis is related to B. leptocystidiatum, B. intertextum (Schwein.) Jülich & Stalpers, B. subcoronatum, and B. xizangense (Fig. 1). The ITS region of B. zhejiangensis is different from B. leptocystidiatum by 7.4%, but B. leptocystidiatum differs from B. zhejiangensis by having tubular cystidia and shorter basidiospores (6.5–7.8 µm vs. 7.9–9.2 μm, Zhou et al. 2024a); B. intertextum differs from B. zhejiangensis by subcylindrical basidia and wider basidiospores (1.8–2.8 µm vs. 2.6–3.4 μm); B. subcoronatum differs from B. zhejiangensis by having yellowish to ochraceous hymenial surface, bigger basidia (20–25 × 7–9 µm vs. 15–19 × 5–6 μm), shorter basidiospores (6–8 µm vs. 7.9–9.2 μm, Bernicchia and Gorjón 2010); B. xizangense differs from B. zhejiangensis by subcylindrical basidia and wider basidia (6–7 µm vs. 5–6 μm, Wang et al. 2024b). Morphologically, Botryobasidium zhejiangensis resembles B. robustius Pouzar & Hol-Jech by sharing pellicular hymenial surface and similar basidia with six sterigmata, but B. robustius differs from B. zhejiangensis by having wider basidia (8–10 μm vs. 5–6 μm, Bernicchia and Gorjón 2010) and a lack of clamp connection.

The wood-inhabiting fungi are a widely studied group of the kingdom fungi, which can promote the material circulation and energy flow of the forest ecosystem and bring great economic value. Further investigation of wood-inhabiting fungi in different forestry habitats will enrich the fungal diversity in China and the world. (Dai et al. 2009; Dai 2010; Wu et al. 2014, 2022b; Cui et al. 2019; Wu et al. 2020; Wijayawardene et al. 2022; Mao et al. 2023; Wang et al. 2023; Zhang et al. 2023; Zhao et al. 2023b; Zhou et al. 2023b; Cui et al. 2024; Qin et al. 2024; Zhou et al. 2024b).

Key to species of Botryobasidium in China

1 Generative hyphae with simple septa 2
– Generative hyphae with clamp connections 17
2 Cystidia present B. acanthosporum
– Cystidia absent 3
3 Chlamydospores present B. subovalibasidium
– Chlamydospores absent 4
4 Conidia present 5
– Conidia absent 6
5 Basidiospores > 13 μm long B. robustius
– Basidiospores < 13 μm long B. bambusinum
6 Basidia with six sterigmata 7
– Basidia with four sterigmata 15
7 Basidiospores mostly > 9 μm long 8
– Basidiospores mostly < 9 μm long 10
8 Basidia > 20 μm long 9
– Basidia < 20 μm long B. danicum
9 Basidiomata reticulate to floccose B. vagum
– Basidiomata hypochnoid B. botryosum
10 Basidia obovate B. aureum
– Basidia subcylindrical 11
11 Basidia > 8 μm wide 12
– Basidia < 8 μm wide 13
12 Basidiomata floccose B. laeve
– Basidiomata pellicular B. subincanum
13 Basidiospores navicular 14
– Basidiospores subcylindrical B. conspersum
14 Basal hyphae > 8 μm in diam B. candicans
– Basal hyphae < 8 μm in diam B. xizangense
15 Basidiomata floccose to cotton B. gossypirubiginosum
– Basidiomata hypochnoid 16
16 Basidiospores > 7 μm wide B. isabellinum
– Basidiospores < 7 μm wide B. incanum
17 Basidia mostly < 6 μm wide 18
– Basidia mostly > 6 μm wide 19
18 Basidiospores > 2.5 μm wide B. zhejiangensis
– Basidiospores < 2.5 μm wide B. intertextum
19 Basidiospores > 8 μm long B. latihyphum
– Basidiospores < 8 μm long 20
20 Cystidia absent B. subcoronatum
– Cystidia present B. leptocystidiatum

Additional information

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Ethical statement

No ethical statement was reported.

Funding

The research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 32300013, 32300002) and the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (Grade C) of the China Postdoc-toral Science Foundation (GZC20230254).

Author contributions

All authors have contributed equally.

Author ORCIDs

Xin Li https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1625-8589

Xin Zhang https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8363-7852

Yi-Fei Sun https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3997-3662

Zhen-Hao Li https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8279-8981

An-Hong Zhu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2812-8108

Ying-Da Wu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1295-4015

Data availability

All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text.

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