Species diversity of corticioid and hydnoid fungi in China and their medicinal, environmental, agricultural, and industrial values

Corticioid and hydnoid fungi are a group of aphyllophoroid basidiomycetes that perform important ecological functions. These fungi exhibit high species diversity, play important roles in energy flow and material cycling through saprophytic, symbiotic, or parasitic nutrient acquisition, and are widely distributed in various forest ecosystems around the world. Many of these fungi have important economic value and potential for use in multiple applications, particularly as the most important sources of lead compounds in innovative drug discovery in the pharmaceutical field. In the past decade, research on corticioid and hydnoid fungi in China has increased rapidly, with many new species being described, the phylogenetic positions of many taxonomic units being elucidated, and numerous new potentially available fungal resources being recognized. This study systematically compiled a total of 1,400 corticioid and hydnoid fungal species in China, which belong to 245 genera, 69 families, and 32 uncertain family-level taxa (incertae sedis), as well as 21 orders and three uncertain order-level taxa in two classes (Agaricomycetes and Dacrymycetes). The number of recorded species has increased by 2.8 times compared with that from 2010, with the majority of increases being attributed to the discovery of new species, and this number exceeds that in North America, and ranks first in the world. In this study, a checklist of corticioid and hydnoid fungi in China was compiled, and the available accession numbers of reference nrITS sequences are provided. The value of these fungi for application in the medicinal, environmental, agricultural, and industrial fields was summarized at the genus level. Additionally, ten new species were illustrated and described. This study provides a foundation for taxonomy, resource assessment, conservation, and sustainable utilization of these fungal resources.