Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Australia, Aschersonia mackerrasiae on whitefly, Cladosporium corticola on bark of Melaleuca quinquenervia, Penicillium nudgee from soil under Melaleuca quinquenervia, Pseudocercospora blackwoodiae on leaf spot of Persoonia falcata, and Pseudocercospora dalyelliae on leaf spot of Senna alata. Bolivia, Aspicilia lutzoniana on fully submersed siliceous schist in high-mountain streams, and Niesslia parviseta on the lower part and apothecial discs of Erioderma barbellatum onatwig. Brazil, Cyathus bonsai on decaying wood, Geastrum albofibrosum from moist soil with leaf litter, Laetiporus pratigiensis on a trunk of a living unknown hardwood tree species, and Scytalidium synnematicum on dead twigs of unidentified plant. Bulgaria, Amanita abscondita on sandy soil in a plantation of Quercus suber. Canada, Penicillium acericola on dead bark of Acer saccharum, and Penicillium corticola on dead bark of Acer saccharum. China, Colletotrichum qingyuanense on fruit lesion of Capsicum annuum. Denmark, Helminthosphaeria leptospora on corticioid Neohypochnicium cremicolor. Ecuador (Galapagos), Phaeosphaeria scalesiae on Scalesia sp. Finland, Inocybe jacobssonii on calcareouss oils in dry forests and park habitats. France, Cortinarius rufomyrrheus on sandy soil under Pinus pinaster, and Periconia neominutissima on leaves of Poaceae. India, Coprinopsis fragilis on decaying bark of logs, Filoboletus keralensis on unidentified woody substrate, Penicillium sankaranii from soil, Physisporinus tamilnaduensis on the trunk of Azadirachta indica, and Poronia nagaraholensis on elephant dung. Iran, Neosetophoma fic on infected leaves of Ficus elastica. Israel, Cnidariophoma eilatica (incl. Cnidariophoma gen. nov.) from Stylophora pistillata. Italy, Lyophyllum obscurum on acidic soil. Namibia, Aureobasidium faidherbiae on dead leaf of Faidherbia albida, and Aureobasidium welwitschiae on dead leaves of Welwitschia mirabilis. Netherlands, Gaeumannomycella caricigena on dead culms of Carex elongata, Houtenomyces caricicola (incl. Houtenomyces gen. nov.) on culms of Carex disticha, Neodacampia ulmea (incl. Neodacampia gen. nov.) on branch of Ulmus laevis, Niesslia phragmiticola on dead standing culms of Phragmites australis, Pseudopyricularia caricicola on culms of Carex disticha, and Rhodoveronaea nieuwwulvenica on dead bamboo sticks. Norway, Arrhenia similis half-buried and moss-covered pieces of rotting wood in grass-grownpath. Pakistan, Mallocybe ahmadii on soil. Poland, Beskidomyces laricis (incl. Beskidomyces gen. nov.) from resin of Larix decidua ssp. polonica, Lapidomyces epipinicola from sooty mould community on Pinus nigra, and Leptographium granulatum from a gallery of Dendroctonus micans on Picea abies. Portugal, Geoglossum azoricum on mossy areas of laurel forest areas planted with Cryptomeria japonica, and Lunasporangiospora lusitanica from a biofilm covering a bio deteriorated limestone wall. Qatar, Alternaria halotolerans from hypersaline sea water, and Alternaria qatarensis from water sample collected from hypersaline lagoon. South Africa, Alfaria thamnochorti on culm of Thamnochortus fraternus, Knufia aloeicola on Aloe gariepensis, Muriseptatomyces restionacearum (incl.Muriseptatomyces gen. nov.) on culms of Restionaceae, Neocladosporium arctotis on nest of cases of bagworm moths(Lepidoptera, Psychidae) on Arctotis auriculata, Neodevriesia scadoxi on leaves of Scadoxus puniceus, Paraloratospora schoenoplecti on stems of Schoenoplectus lacustris, Tulasnella epidendrea from the roots of Epidendrum × obrienianum, and Xenoidriella cinnamomi (incl. Xenoidriella gen. nov.) on leaf of Cinnamomum camphora. South Korea, Lemonniera fraxinea on decaying leaves of Fraxinus sp. frompond. Spain, Atheniella lauri on the bark of fallen trees of Laurus nobilis, Halocryptovalsa endophytica from surface-sterilised, asymptomatic roots of Salicornia patula, Inocybe amygdaliolens on soil in mixed forest, Inocybe pityusarum on calcareous soil in mixed forest, Inocybe roseobulbipes on acidic soils, Neonectria borealis from roots of Vitis berlandieri × Vitis rupestris, Sympoventuria eucalyptorum on leaves of Eucalyptus sp., and Tuber conchae fromsoil. Sweden, Inocybe bidumensis on calcareous soil. Thailand, Cordyceps sandindaengensis on Lepidoptera pupa, buried in soil, Ophiocordyceps kuchinaraiensis on Coleoptera larva, buried in soil, and Samsoniella winandae on Lepidoptera pupa, buriedinsoil. Taiwan region (China), Neophaeosphaeria livistonae on dead leaf of Livistona rotundifolia. Türkiye, Melanogaster anatolicus on clay loamy soils. UK, Basingstokeomyces allii (incl. Basingstokeomyces gen. nov.) on leaves of Allium schoenoprasum. Ukraine, Xenosphaeropsis corni on recently dead stem of Cornus alba. USA, Nothotrichosporon aquaticum (incl. Nothotrichosporon gen. nov.) from water, and Periconia philadelphiana from swab of coil surface. Morphological and culture characteristics for these new taxa are supported by DNA barcodes.

The Russula globispora lineage is a morphologically and phylogenetically well-defined group of ectomycorrhizal fungi occurring in various climatic areas. In this study we performed a multi-locus phylogenetic study based on collections from boreal, alpine and arctic habitats of Europe and Western North America, subalpine collections from the southeast Himalayas and collections from subtropical coniferous forests of Pakistan. European and North American collections are nearly identical and probably represent a single species named R. dryadicola distributed from the Alps to the Rocky Mountains. Collections from the southeast Himalayas belong to two distinct species: R. abbottabadensis sp. nov. from subtropical monodominant forests of Pinus roxburghii and R. tengii sp. nov. from subalpine mixed forests of Abies and Betula. The results suggest that speciation in this group is driven by a climate disjunction and adaptation rather than a host switch and geographical distance.

In the current study, a macro fungus was collected and identified by using morphological and molecular tools to study the ITS region, which has been described as a universal barcode marker during molecular investigation for the identification of fungi. Based on morphology and molecular evidence, the collected fungus was identified as Daedalea Mushroom. The identified fungus was used for the synthesis of Iron and ZnO nanoparticles as an eco-friendly agent for nanoparticle synthesis. The synthesized nanoparticles were confirmed by, Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy analysis (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM). All these characterizations revealed the synthesis of Iron and ZnO NPs with an irregular shape and a size of 16.8 nm. The zinc oxide nanoparticles had a size in the range of 18.53 nm. Daedalea Mushroom was used for the first time to synthesize Iron and zinc nanoparticles. The mycosynthesized Iron and ZnO NPs were assessed as control agents at various dosage rates against the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus niger, which was isolated from an apple and identified using its morphology. At higher concentrations (0.75 mg/mL), the iron nanoparticles inhibited fungal growth by 72%, whereas at lower concentrations (0.25 mg/mL), they inhibited fungal growth by 60%. ZnO NPs showed good antifungal activity at different concentrations including growth inhibition at 0.25 mg/mL (88%), 1.0 mg/mL (68%), 0.75 mg/mL (75%), and 0.5 mg/mL (70%) concentrations of ZnO NPs. However, the maximum growth inhibition of ZnO NPs was observed at 0.25 mg/mL (88%) concentration and minimum growth inhibition at 0.1 mg/mL (22%). The current study concludes that Daedalea Mushroom works as a novel and eco-friendly source for the synthesis of Iron and ZnO NPs with prominent antifungal activities that can be further applied in different fields.

In recent years, nanotechnology has become one of the emerging fields of nanoparticle synthesis using biological processes. The use of mushroom extract is one of the most important methods for biological synthesis due to the presence of abundant biologically active compounds. In this study, Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were synthesized using Daedalea sp. mushroom extract. The nanoparticles had an average size of 14.58 nm and irregular morphology, which shows its prominent character. Various analytical techniques including FTIR, X-ray diffraction, EDX, and UV-Vis spectrum showed a broad absorption between 350 and 380 nm, which indicates the synthesis of ZnO NPs. The characterized NPs were exploited for a wide range of biomedical applications including biocompatibility, antifungal, antileishmanial, and antibacterial studies. The ZnO nanoparticles showed a strong antibacterial effect against gram-positive (Klesbsilla pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative (Eschericia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Furthermore, the ZnO nanoparticles also showed a high antifungal effect against Aspergillus niger fungus.

The current generally accepted concept of Russula maculata defines the species by yellow-brownish spots on the basidiomata, an acrid taste, a yellow spore print and a red pileus. This concept was tested using collections originating from various geographical areas mainly in Europe. Analyses of the ITS region suggested that there were three species within this broad concept. One of them, R. maculata, was identified based on the sequence from the epitype. Two other species, R. nympharum and R. sp., are described here as newly identified species. The European species R. maculata and R. nympharum grow in deciduous forests, are similar in their field aspect and are distinctly different in micro-morphological characteristics of spores, pleurocystidia and pileipellis. An Asian species, R. sp., is associated with pine and has smaller basidiomata and spores. These three species form the R. maculata complex and represent the sister clade to the R. globispora complex. This clade consists of species also characterized by a yellow-brownish context discolouration but with a different type of spore ornamentation. All of the other tested species had an acrid taste and yellow spore print but did not have a conspicuous yellow-brownish context discolouration and were placed in various unrelated clades.