Mycosystema. 2013, 32(6): 931-946.
Due to morphological paucity and stasis, and phenotypic plasticity, phylogenetic relationships of fungi cannot easily be grasped based on merely morphological characters, cellular and subcellular structures, and biochemical and physiological features. New techniques, such as DNA and genome sequencing, comparative genomics and bioinformatics, have revolutionized the study of fungal taxonomy, and a large number of lineages in fungal evolution can be recognized this way, which, consequently, provides strong support for establishing new taxa at different taxonomic levels. Since 2000, at least one new subkingdom, four new phyla, seven new subphyla, nineteen new classes, nine new subclasses, and over forty new orders have been created. In the last three years, over 20 new fungal genera were published by Chinese mycologists, most of which are supported with molecular evidence. It is anticipated that a large number of new species, new genera, new families and even new higher taxa are going to be discovered and erected in the next ten years. We could take advantage of the highly rich fungal resources in China and make due contributions to the taxonomy of fungi. Meanwhile, fungal taxonomy is confronted with serious challenges. The challenges are mainly as follows: 1) studies are becoming more and more comprehensive and multi-technique based, which needs not only corresponding financial supports but also, for researchers, more all-round skills, broader background knowledge, and faster speed of renewal of knowledge; 2) the speed of description and documentation of new taxa is slow and needs to be accelerated in order to serve the increasing needs of people for recognition and utilization of species; 3) it is urgent to innovate our research schemes, and to adopt new techniques, new ideas and new strategies in order to advance taxonomy of fungi, to speed up the discovery and documentation of new taxa, and last but not least to serve the social progress and science development.
