Aurantiporus priscus (Basidiomycota), a New Polypore from Old Fallen Conifer Trees

A new species in Basidiomycota, Aurantiporus priscus Niemelä, Miettinen & Manninen, growing on large, long-ago fallen and decorticated conifer trunks, is described from old virgin forests. We report it from Finland, Poland and Sweden. Its fresh tubes are fleshy, soft and pale salmon-coloured, contrasting with a cottony and orange- to tan-coloured subiculum. With KOH, the tubes only darken, while the subiculum and fruitbody margin of fully-grown basidiocarps become bright cherry-red. This species has been confused with Hapalopilus aurantiacus and H. ochraceolateritius, which have cylindrical spores, while the spores of A. priscus are ellipsoid. The type of Polyporus salmonicolor was reviewed.