Spatiotemporal Pattern of Sanghuangporus (Basidiomycota) Revealing the Evolutionary Dynamics of Diversification in China

Sanghuangporus is an important edible and medicinal macrofungal genus with 11 species distributed in China, and wild resources are crucial for the sustainable industrial development. Here, to promote the scientific utilization and conservation of these edible and medicinal resources, we conduct the spatiotemporal pattern analysis of Sanghuangporus . The distribution model predicted from a total of 266 occurrence records suggests that the highly suitable habitat for Sanghuangporus in China was mainly concentrated in the moist and warm climate region with a high density of host plants, which is highly consistent with known occurrence records in China. Correspondingly, host plant, annual precipitation, and annual mean temperature were estimated as the first three most crucial variables for the distribution model of Sanghuangporus , as expected. Since the origination of Sanghuangporus 10.32 million years ago in inland China, the early lineage had favored the moist and warm climate with as high density of host plants as possible. Later, the host density became the primary environmental constraint for the diversification of Sanghuangporus . In summary, this study reveals the adaptive evolutionary scenario and dynamics of Sanghuangporus in China and indicates that the crucial way to protect Sanghuangporus resource and its evolutionary potential is to save the host plants. Hopefully, this study will attract more attention to the macroevolution of macrofungi.