theoverzealousleaf's Journal

Here I copied and pasted a comment I made on my own ID of what I sure hope is a Northern Red Belt mushroom, with some extra commentary (and questions). The ID has yet to be confirmed or denied by anyone.
What a journey I took to get to this ID. I originally found this mushroom on a hike 11 days ago. I used iNat to get to the Genus Fomitopsis. The first recommendation was Fomitopsis mounceae, but after comparing photos I felt like it didn't match, and I had lots more fun photos to add, so I stuck with the Genus and moved on. Two weeks later, it was bugging me and I decided to do some deeper research. I learned that the droplets on this specimen weren't just water, but a process called Fungal Guttation that is commonly seen on Fomitopsis pinicola.
After looking into this more and browsing mushroom photos until the early hours of the morning like a crazed detective, I decided I officially had my ID! Then, when I went to submit my ID, I had another problem. Is my mushroom Fomitopsis pinicola, the Red-banded Polypore, or complex Fomitopsis pinicola, the Red-banded Conk?
After doing even more research, I was left confused if they were even different mushrooms when I read from a source that F. pinicola was referred to as "Red-belted Conk and Red-banded Polypore." I ended up on what is clearly the greatest source of information of all, Wikipedia, which told me this:
"There is currently a splitting of F. pinicola occurring to isolate distinct species that have all previously been classified as F. pinicola. DNA analysis supports splitting F. pinicola into three groups- F. pinicola, F. mounceae, and F. schrenkii. Fomitopsis pinicola is found in Europe and Asia, Fomitopsis mounceae is on the east coast of the US, west coast of the US and midwestern US, and F. schrenkii is found at higher elevations in the latitude of the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to central Mexico."
I did a little celebratory spin in my chair. This mushroom and I are on the west coast, so my ID must be Fomitopsis mounceae.
I finally went to submit that ID, and had the ultimate facepalm moment when I didn't even need to type it, because, oh, hello, that was the very first recommended ID all along. At least now I know why...
I would love insight from anyone who knows what the heck is up with these three mushrooms in particular (although I guess there's five of them now?!). What is the difference between F. pinicola and complex F. pinicola? Just the red stripe? Learning more just gave me more questions! It's funny how that works. But I'm not complaining,
And please, please, please tell me that my mushroom is F. mounceae. Please. (But if it's not, PLEASE also tell me that. Seriously.)