ABSTRACT
The results of phylogenetic analysis of Fomes fomentarius and species of the genus Daedaleopsis (D. confragosa, D. tricolor, D. septentrionalis) biomaterials from Armenia and the Asian part of Russia using nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of ribosomal DNA sequence data as a standard marker of fungal DNA-barcoding are presented. The obtained data revealed that F. fomentarius is taxonomically complex species represented in Armenia and Russia by sublineages A2 and B2 of two phylogenetic lineages A and B, which correspond to two cryptic sympatric species F. fomentarius sensu stricto and F. inzengae, respectively. Nucleotide divergence between these sublineages is 1.85% which does not exceed the average level of intraspecific ITS variability (3.33%) in Basidiomycetes fungi. It is suggesting that F. fomentarius s. str. and F. inzengae are possibly not taxonomically separate species, but sympatric cryptic subspecies of F. fomentarius sensu lato significantly differ by their ecology, physiology and distribution. The phylogenetic analysis of ITS-rDNA sequence data has shown that D. confragosa, D. tricolor and D. septentrionalis from the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East regions of Russia genetically are the same and should be considered as one taxonomic species. Since these species are significantly differing in morphological and ecological characteristics, they should be considered as three intraspecific phylogenetic lineages, possibly subspecies. The data possibly indicates the existence of two types of polytypic species in wood-decaying fungi: a) monomorphic cryptic polytypic species consisting of genetically various, but morphologically indistinguishable (cryptic) phylogenetic lineages and b) polymorphic polytypic species, consisting of intraspecific phenotypically distinct but indistinguishable groups.
