Complex evolutionary history of the fungal order Hymenochaetales revealed by analyses of trait evolution and diversification

Wang, X.W. and Varga, Torda and Li, Q.S. and Nagy, László and Zhou, L.W. (2025) Complex evolutionary history of the fungal order Hymenochaetales revealed by analyses of trait evolution and diversification. MYCOSPHERE, 16 (1). pp. 517-535. ISSN 2077-7000

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Abstract

The tempo and mode of speciation and extinction of species shape the extant diversity of organisms and hold a footprint of past evolutionary events and adaptive periods. However, in contrast to most animals and plants, fungal diversification patterns are poorly known. Here, using a novel, nearly comprehensive phylogeny, we analyze speciation and extinction patterns of the order Hymenochaetales (Agaricomycetes), which is a speciose group of important wood-decaying fungi and tree pathogens. We show that the Hymenochaetales had a convoluted and eventful evolutionary history, shaped by an early adaptive period, followed by a general rate slowdown interrupted by local rapid radiations in the Cretaceous. We inferred that the ancestor of the order has undergone rapid phenotypic diversification into a range of fruiting body morphologies and lifestyles, of which crustlike morphologies and ‘pileate-sessile’ forms typical of bracket-fungi became dominant among extant taxa. Diversification rate showed significant correlations with paleotemperature, morphological and ecological traits; however, teasing apart the contributions of individual clades revealed that these were mostly driven by the Mid-late Cretaceous rapid radiation of the genus Phylloporia, a taxonomically diverse group of plant parasites. Together, this study unraveled a complex evolutionary history of the Hymenochaetales and uncovered novel patterns of phenotype evolution and diversification in mushroom-forming fungi.

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