Taxonomy and phylogeny of Entoloma s.l. subgenus Pouzarella in China are carried out based on morphological characters and molecular data. Seven species in subg. Pouzarella are recognized in China and a key to these species is provided. Five species, Entoloma changchunense, E. crassicystidiatum, E. furfuraceum, E. subaraneosum and E. tenuissimum, are described as new; a new Chinese record E. dysthaloides is also presented in this paper. Among them, E. crassicystidiatum was discovered from southern China, and the others were found in northeastern China. Molecular phylogeny of subg. Pouzarella were conducted based on nLSU, mtSSU and RPB2, and the phylogenetic positions of the five new species are discussed. The placement of subg. Pouzarella in Entoloma s.l. clade is well resolved in all analyses presented here, and the monophyly of subg. Pouzarella is strongly supported by the morphological and molecular phylogeny. The infrageneric classifications in this group were not well recovered in the present study; and further studies based on more samples and gene loci are needed to a better understanding of the infrageneric taxa in subg. Pouzarella in the future.

Cordyceps guangdongensis is an edible fungus which was approved as a novel food by the Chinese Ministry of Public Health in 2013. It also has a broad prospect of application in pharmaceutical industries, with many medicinal activities. In this study, the whole genome of C. guangdongensis GD15, a single spore isolate from a wild strain, was sequenced and assembled with Illumina and PacBio sequencing technology. The generated genome is 29.05 Mb in size, comprising nine scaffolds with an average GC content of 57.01%. It is predicted to contain a total of 9150 protein-coding genes. Sequence identification and comparative analysis indicated that the assembled scaffolds contained two complete chromosomes and four single-end chromosomes, showing a high level assembly. Gene annotation revealed a diversity of transposons that could contribute to the genome size and evolution. Besides, approximately 15.57% and 12.01% genes involved in metabolic processes were annotated by KEGG and COG respectively. Genes belonging to CAZymes accounted for 3.15% of the total genes. In addition, 435 transcription factors, involved in various biological processes, were identified. Among the identified transcription factors, the fungal transcription regulatory proteins (18.39%) and fungal-specific transcription factors (19.77%) represented the two largest classes of transcription factors. This genomic resource provided a new insight into better understanding the relevance of phenotypic characters and genetic mechanisms in C. guangdongensis.

In this study, species relationships of the genus Aureoboletus were studied, based on both morphological characteristics and a four-gene (nrLSU, tef1-a, rpb1 and rpb2) phylogenetic inference. Thirty-five species of the genus have been revealed worldwide, forming eight major clades in the phylogenetic tree, of which twenty-four species have been found in China, including six new species: A. glutinosus, A. griseorufescens, A. raphanaceus, A. sinobadius, A. solus, A. velutipes and a new combination A. miniatoaurantiacus (Bi & Loh) Ming Zhang, N.K. Zeng & T.H. Li proposed here. A key to 24 known Chinese species has been provided.

An agaric belonging to the Leucoagaricus-Leucocoprinus group (AC group) of Agaricaceae s. l., commonly found in South China, was usually identified as Leucoagaricus lacrymans or Lepiota shixingensis in previous researches. However, as this agaric is also close to La. sinicus and the phylogeny of the AC group has not been resolved, its taxonomic position has not been elucidated. In this study, by reconstructing the phylogeny of the AC group and its closely related genera based on four DNA loci (ITS, nrLSU, rpb2, and tef-1α), the AC group is resolved as polyphyletic but formed a monophyletic group together with Micropsalliota, and is divided into four genera: Leucoagaricus, Leucocoprinus, and two newly described genera close to Micropsalliota, namely Candelolepiota and Macropsalliota. Candelolepiota is a monotypic genus that accommodates this agaric as Candelolepiota sinicus (≡ Leucoagaricus sinicus), characterized by basidiomata excreting colored droplets when fresh, turning brownish after touched or damaged, and subcylindrical, flexuous cheilocystidia. Leucoagaricus lacrymans is a later synonym of Cd. sinicus. Macropsalliota is similar to Micropsalliota, but differs from the latter by usually more robust basidiomata, pileus with granular, fibrous or flaky squamules composed of perpendicular to interwoven hyphae, whitish to yellowish lamellae and slightly colored basidiospores with a germ pore, accommodating the previously recognized La. americanus and its related species. Leucoagaricus is revised to accommodate species that are usually saprotrophic in forests, not symbiotic with attine ant species, producing slender to moderately robust basidiomata without a distinct color change after touched, damaged, or dried, with a non-plicate to shortly plicate pileus without or with squamules composed of horizontal to interwoven hyphae, and basidiospores without a germ pore. Leucocoprinus is revised to accommodate species that are widely saprotrophic in forests, lawns, urban areas, and compost, occasionally symbiotic with attine ant species, producing slender to robust basidiomata turning reddish, purplish, greenish to bluish or without a distinct color change after touched, damaged, or dried, with a non-plicate to plicate pileus with squamules composed of perpendicular to interwoven hyphae, and basidiospores with or without a germ pore. The presence or absence of a long continuous gap region in the ITS alignment is also found to be informative for the recognition of Micropsalliota, Macropsalliota, and the other three genera in the AC group. Fifty-three new combinations are proposed. The genus Lepiota is recognized as separated from Agaricaceae s. str. and belonging to the family Lepiotaceae.