''Laetiporus caribensis'' is a species of

polypore Polypores, also called bracket or shelf fungi, are a morphological group of basidiomycete-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi that form large fruiting bodies called conks, which are typically woody, circular, shelf- or bracket-shaped, ...

fungus in the family

Fomitopsidaceae The Fomitopsidaceae are a family (biology), family of fungi in the order Polyporales. Most species are parasitic on woody plants, and tend to cause Wood-decay fungus#Brown rot, brown rots. The name comes from ''Fomitopsis'' (meaning "looking like ...

. It is found in the

Caribbean Islands Most of the Caribbean countries are islands in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest islands include Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Some of the smaller islands are referred to as a ''rock'' or ''reef.'' ''I ...

and in Central America, where it causes a brown rot on tropical

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

trees. It was described as new to science in 2012 by Mark Banik and Daniel Lindner. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

collection was made in

El Yunque National Forest El Yunque National Forest (), formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest (or ''Bosque Nacional del Caribe''), is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. While there are both temperate and tropical rainforests in other states and terri ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, where the fungus was found fruiting on a snag of ''

Guarea guidonia ''Guarea guidonia'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Meliaceae. It ranges from Cuba and Honduras south to Argentina. The bark of ''Guarea rusbyi'' (Britton) Rusby, a synonym of ''Guarea guidonia'' (L.) Sleumer, is used as an expecto ...

''.

References

Fungi described in 2012 Fungi of Central America Fungi of Oceania Fungal plant pathogens and diseases caribensis Fungi without expected TNC conservation status Fungus species {{Polyporales-stub