Three new species of Hydnophlebia (Polyporales, Basidiomycota) from the Macaronesian Islands

The genus Hydnophlebia includes two species of wood-inhabiting fungi, Hydnophlebia chrysorhizon and Hydnophlebia omnivora. Both are characterized by cream to reddish-orange, resupinate basidiome, with hydnoid hymenophore, margin with strands, a monomitic hyphal system, tubular to ventricose cystidia and elliptical spores. In this paper, a taxonomic study of Hydnophlebia, using morphology and molecular analyses of large subunit nuclear ribosomal DNA (LSU) and the internal transcribed spacer nrDNA operon (ITS), is reported. Three new species, Hydnophlebia canariensis, H. gorgonea and H. meloi, from the Macaronesia bioregion (Canary Islands and Cape Verde Archipelago), are described.