Fungal Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Ecology: A Themed Issue Dedicated to Academician Wen-Ying Zhuang

We are honored and privileged to edit this Special Issue, “Fungal Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Ecology: A Themed Issue Dedicated to Academician Wen-Ying Zhuang”.

Professor Wen-Ying Zhuang is an outstanding mycologist in China and worldwide. Over the past 46 years, she has comprehensively investigated fungal biodiversity in forests, deserts, and plateaus habitats from 26 provinces and districts of China and accumulated numerous priceless resources for scientific research and economic utilization. She has discovered and described 1 new family, 13 new genera, and 360 new species of fungi, and resolved numerous taxonomic and nomenclature problems. Her collaboration with international colleagues contributed greatly to the selection of fungal DNA barcodes and the phylogenetic reconstruction of Leotiomycetes, Helotiales, and Hypocreales. She is the senior author of 280 articles, editor and co-editor of 18 monographs, independent editor of worldwide monographs of 3 important fungal genera, co-editor of Dictionary of the Fungi (v9), and co-Editor-in-Chief of Flora Sporophytae Sinicae. Prof. Wen-Ying Zhuang has been elected as a CAS academician, TWAS academician, IMA executive committee member, and MSA fellow. In honor of her outstanding contribution, one fungal genus Wenyingia and one bacterial genus Wenyingzhuangia have been named after her. More recently, her work on Trichoderma has renewed our understanding of its biodiversity and helped discover many potentially highly capable strains with significant enzyme profiles in degrading agricultural wastes.

In this Special Issue, we are pleased to publish a comprehensive assemblage of 23 papers covering fungal taxonomy, phylogeny, and ecology, in which 76 new taxa from a broad taxonomic group and different ecological habitats are reported.

Prof Wenying Zhuang and colleagues reported three new species of Clonostachys (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) from China, namely, Clonostachys chongqingensis sp. nov., Clonostachys leptoderma sp. nov., and Clonostachys oligospora sp. nov. [1]. Using contaminated substrates of edible fungi from North China, Cao et al. [2] detected 10 Trichoderma species, including 3 new species in Harzianum clade, T. auriculariae sp. nov., T. miyunense sp. nov., and T. pholiotae sp. nov. From the green mold diseased fruitbody of Ganoderma sichuanense, An et al. [3] described Trichoderma ganodermatigerum as a new species and reported Trichoderma koningiopsis as a new fungal pathogen on Ganoderma sichuanense fruitbodies. From 526 strains isolated from diseased watermelon in 8 growing provinces in China, Guo et al. [4] detected 12 known species of Colletotrichum, with Colletotrichum kaifengense and Colletotrichum magnum being the most aggressive to watermelon. Focusing on the large-spored Alternaria associated with Compositae plants in China, Zhao et al. [5] discovered five new species, namely, Alternaria anhuiensis, A. coreopsidis, A. nanningensis, A. neimengguensis, and A. sulphureus. From 353 Calonectria strains isolated from leaf blight pathogen of Eucalyptus plantations and adjacent plantings, as well as natural forests, Liu et al. [6] identified six known Calonectria taxa and one new species, Calonectria minensis. In a similar study, Zhang et al. [7] identified five new species, namely, Calonectria cassiae, C. guangdongensis, C. melaleucae, C. shaoguanensis, and C. strelitziae, based on isolates from leaf spots, stem blights, and root rots of species of Arachis, Cassia, Callistemon, Eucalyptus, Heliconia, Melaleuca, and Strelitzia plants in Guangdong province. Relying on newly collected Otidea specimens from northern China and herbarium specimens deposited in three important Chinese fungus herbaria (HMAS, HKAS, HMJAU), Xu et al. [8] recognized 16 species of Otidea in China, of which 7 new species were described, namely, Otidea aspera, O. cupulata, O. filiformis, O. khakicolorata, O. parvula, O. plicara, and O. purpureobrunnea. Based on a combination of morphology, phylogeny, and holomorphic states, Ou et al. [9] discovered four new species of Orbilia, i.e., O. baisensis, O. hanzhongensis, O. nanningensis, and O. pinea. In two other studies on plant-associated fungi from Hainan island of China, Liu et al. [10] described three new species of Microdochium, i.e., M. hainanense, M. miscanthi, and M. sinense from plant hosts Miscanthus sinensis and Phragmites australis; Wang et al. [11] described four new species of Acrodictys, namely, A. bawanglingensis, A. diaoluoshanensis, A. ellisii, and A. pigmentosa, from dead branches. Focusing on insect pathogenic fungi in Thailand, Thanakitpipattana et al. [12] discovered one new genus, Neohyperdermium, and five new species of Ascopolyporus, namely, A. albus sp. nov., A. galloides, A. griseoperitheciatus, A. khaoyaiensis, and A. purpuratus. Moreover, both macroscopic and phylogenetic evidence suggested that Hyperdermium is congeneric with Ascopolyporus [12]. In arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China, Zhang et al. [13] discovered and described four new species of Verrucariaceae lichen, namely, Clavascidium sinense, Placidium nigrum, Placidium nitidulum, and Placidium varium. From the lichenized fungal genus Astrothelium, Jiang et al. [14] described five new species, namely, A. jiangxiense, A. luminothallinum, A. pseudocrassum, A. subeustominspersum, and A. subrufescens. These excellent works contributed significantly to recognizing fungal species diversity in Ascomycota.

Moving to Basidiomycota, from a residential area of Jiangxi Province in China, Zhang et al. [15] reported an unusual new bryophilous basidiolichen species in the genus Omphalina, namely, O. licheniformis, providing new insights and evidence for understanding the significance of lichenization during the evolution of Agaricomycetes. From the genus of edible mushrooms Cantharellus, Zhang et al. [16] discovered four new species, namely, C. chrysanthus, C. convexus, C. neopersicinus, and C. sinocinnabarinus. Demonstrated by both morphological and molecular analysis, Hu et al. [17] discovered eight new species of Gymnopus from Northeast China, namely, G. changbaiensis, G. globulosus, G. longisterigmaticus, G. longus, G. macrosporus, G. striatus, G. tiliicola, and G. tomentosus. Mao et al. [18] described two new species of Mallocybe and three new species of Pseudosperma from North China, namely, M. depressa, P. gilvum, P. laricis, M. picea, and P. pseudoniveivelatum. Song et al. [19] revealed the phylogenetic relationships in the genus Phellodon (Bankeraceae, Thelephorales) based on multi-locus sequences and described three new species, namely, P. crassipileatus, P. griseofuscus, and P. perchocolatus. Focusing on wood decomposers from a subtropical region of Yunnan Province in China, Luo and Zhao [20] reported three new species of Trechispora, namely T. murina, T. odontioidea, and T. olivacea. Kewessa et al. [21] recorded 64 wild edible fungal species belonging to 31 genera and 21 families from the plots established in the natural and plantation forests in Ethiopia, including ecologically and economically important fungal species such as Agaricus campestroides, Tylopilus niger, Suillus luteus, Tricholoma portentosum, and Morchella americana. The fungal community composition based on sporocarp observation was mainly correlated with the organic matter, available phosphorus, total nitrogen content of the soil, and daily minimum temperature [21].

Beyond the Dikarya and to the early fungal lineage Conidiobolus (Ancylistaceae; Entomophthorales; Zoopagomycota), Gryganskyi et al. [22] resolved the phylogeny, lifestyle, and evolution direction of parasitic in Conidiobolus group using molecular and genomic data. Gryganskyi et al. [22] found that parasitism evolved multiple times in the Conidiobolus group and suggested that the evolution of ballistic conidia preceded the evolution of the parasitic lifestyle. Focusing on cellular slime molds (Dictyostelids), Cavender et al. [23] discovered four new species, namely, Cavenderia helicoidea, C. parvibrachiata, C. protumula, and C. ungulate, from soil systems in northern Thailand.

Finally, we would like to thank all the contributors to this Special Issue and warmheartedly wish Prof. Wen-Ying Zhuang all the best in the future.