An Updated Global Species Diversity and Phylogeny in the Forest Pathogenic Genus (Basidiomycota, Russulales).

species are amongst the most intensively studied polypores because several species are aggressive white rot pathogens of managed coniferous forests mainly in Europe and North America. In the present study, both morphological and multilocus phylogenetic analyses were carried out on samples from Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America. Three new taxa were found, i.e., , , and are from Asia and are described as new species. is treated as a synonym of . So far, six taxa in the species complex are recognized. , , and occur in Europe, , and in North America, and in East Asia. The North American was introduced to Italy during the Second World War. Species in the complex are pathogens of coniferous trees, except that seems to be a saprotroph. Ten species are found in the species complex, all of them are saprotrophs. The pathogenic species are distributed in Europe and North America; the Asian countries should consider the European and North American species as entry plant quarantine fungi. Parallelly, European countries should consider the American and as entry plant quarantine fungi although the latter species is already in Italy, while North America should treat , s.s., and as entry plant quarantine fungi. Eight species found in the Himalayas suggest that the ancestral species may have occurred in Asia.