Phylogeny and species diversity of <i>Armillaria</i> in China based on morphological, mating test, and GCPSR criteria

More than 600 Chinese specimens of <i>Armillaria</i> were identified by mating tests, Genealogical Concordance Phylogenetic Species Recognition (GCPSR), and comparison of morphological characteristics. Sixteen Chinese Biological Species (CBS) of <i>Armillaria</i> were identified by 30,340 mate pair combinations. Fifteen Chinese Phylogenetic Species (CPS) were recognised based on Independent Evolutionary Lineage (IEL) recognition and concatenated six-gene analysis (<i>actin</i>, <i>h3h</i>, <i>hisps</i>, LSU rDNA, <i>rpb</i>1, and <i>tef</i>1α). All the biological species and phylogenetic species were identical and possessed the same species boundary, except for CBS K (<i>A. mellea</i>) and CBS G (<i>A. mellea</i> ssp. <i>nipponica</i>) which were the same phylogenetic species. On the basis of CBS and CPS, eight new species of <i>Armillaria</i> in China were distinguished using macro and micro morphology, and they are described as <i>A. algida</i>, <i>A. amygdalispora</i>, <i>A. bruneocystidia</i>, <i>A. luteopileata</i>, <i>A. pungentisquamosa</i>, <i>A. sinensis</i>, <i>A. tibetica</i>, and <i>A. violacea</i>. This study indicates that the GCPSR approach provides the same resolution as mating tests in identification of <i>Armillaria</i> species.