Unveiling Species Diversity Within Early-Diverging Fungi from China VII: Seven New Species of ().

The fungal genus , ubiquitously distributed as saprotrophic organisms with occasional endophytic and phytopathogenic manifestations, holds significant biomedical and biochemical importance. During systematic investigations of fungal biodiversity in China, seven novel taxa ( sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., and sp. nov.) were delineated through integrated taxonomic approaches incorporating morphological characterization, multilocus phylogenetic analyses (ITS-LSU-), and physiological assessments. Phylogenetic reconstructions positioned these novel species within a well-supported clade along with and . New species and their diagnostic features are , exhibiting dimorphic sporangiola production; , distinguished by gray pigmentation in the colony; , characterized by a yellow colony; and bearing eponymous designations reflecting their geographic origins; and , displaying simplified sporangiophore branching. Comprehensive taxonomic descriptions accompanied by photomicrographic illustrations are provided herein. This study constitutes the seventh installment in an ongoing series elucidating early-diverging fungal diversity in China, expanding the global taxonomic inventory to 63 species and advancing our understanding of mucoralean phylogeny.