Revising the taxonomic placement of Laetiporus persicinus within the Laetiporaceae.

The fungus currently known as Laetiporus persicinus is a recognizable brown-rot decayer that is widespread on oak hosts in the southeastern United States. This species was first described as Polyporus persicinus in 1872 based on collections by Henry W. Ravenel from South Carolina. In this study, we elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of Laetiporus persicinus based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of a four-locus data set (18S, 28S, rpb2, and tef1) 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 Laetiporus persicinus does not belong to Laetiporus sensu stricto, and we found a strongly supported relationship between Laetiporus persicinus and the African species Kusaghiporia usambarensis, despite the fact that the 28S phylogeny resolved a different (but unsupported) topology. Here, we propose Kusaghiporia persicinus, comb. nov., based on a combination of morphological and molecular data. Laetiporus persicinus shares many morphological features with K. usambarensis that are missing in other Laetiporus species, including centrally stipitate basidiomata, a brown to pinkish pileus surface, and a pore layer that bruises when touched. However, K. usambarensis and L. persicinus differ in basidiospore size and shape as well as their geographic distributions. We provide a revised taxonomic treatment for this common wood-decay fungus.