4d–g): Thus in Artolenzites (Fig. 4d) and Pycnoporus (Fig. 4f) the pileipellis is made of a single cutis composed of a +/- gelatinized layer of undifferentiated hyphae, whilst in Leiotrametes and Lenzites

warnieri (Fig. 4e) superficial hyphae are thick-walled and filled with brown, resinous material. In Trametes ljubarskyi (Fig. 4g) the same kind of hyphae are overlapped by a 150–200 μm thick layer of colourless +/- resinous or mucilaginous substance soluble in KOH. In Trametes cingulata the brownish resinous Selleckchem BIBW2992 layer from the accumulation of amorphous resinous material from damaged hyphae reminds one of the upper surface of the laccate Ganoderma species but lacks clavate pileocystidia. All glabrous species have a dull superficial

aspect, except T. ljubarskyi and T. cingulata which have a glossy surface due to the upper resinous layer. Differentiation of subpellis (“black line”) The hairy-tomentose species Trametes betulina, T. maxima, T. meyenii, and T. versicolor – and often also T. hirsuta – typically differentiate a dark subpellis (“black line” or BL). When observed under the light microscope, the BL is very refractive and consists of a dense layer of radially arranged hyphae embedded in a mucus partly dissolving in 5% KOH. In Trametes Selleckchem CFTRinh-172 species where the BL is not apparent this structure is not (T. gibbosa, T. suaveolens) or only weakly (T. polyzona, T. socotrana, T. villosa) developed. Contrary to Ryvarden (1991) and Tomšovský et al. (2006) who consider the BL as through a characteristic of the whole “Coriolus-subclade”

(our core Trametes clade) we failed to systematically observe it in T. hirsuta and never in T. gibbosa, T. ochracea, T. pubescens, or T. polyzona. Thus the BL is not a synapomorphic feature in Trametes and does not support the distinction of a genus or subgenus (such as Coriolus) based on this character (Ryvarden 1991). Such a differentiated subpellis is absent in glabrous species of the Trametes clade (Pycnoporus, Leiotrametes, Artolenzites, L. warnieri, T. ljubarskyi, T. cingulata). In the same way Trametes species without differentiated subpellis (especially T. gibbosa and T. suaveolens) tend to soon become glabrous whilst ageing. Parietal crystal pigment Red to orange parietal crystals located along skeletal hyphae, especially those quite close to the upper surface and hymenophore, is the main feature differentiating Pycnoporus species from those belonging in the genus Leiotrametes and more generally from the glabrous members of the Trametes group, where we never found the pigment. Although these crystals are very quickly soluble in 5% KOH and must be searched for carefully, such a feature is so far relatively significant to justify monophyly of the genus Pycnoporus.