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Colletotrichum is one of the most important plant pathogenic genera that is responsible for numerous diseases which can have a profound impact on the agricultural sector. Species delineation is difficult due to a lack of distinctive phenotypic variation. Therefore, in this study three different genomic approaches based on phylogenetic, evolutionary and coalescent-based methods are applied to establish robust species boundaries. The reliability of five different DNA barcodes was also assessed to provide further insights into species delineation. The ITS region can resolve the placement of taxa up to the species complex level. The GAPDH and TUB2 markers are determined to be the most informative for most complexes. However, no single marker could discriminate between species in all complexes, therefore different molecular approaches based on multi-locus datasets are recommended. This is the first study to provide an estimated divergence time for all species complexes in Colletotrichum. The estimated divergence time for species complexes ranged between 4.8 to 32.2 MYA. Based on the high level of congruent results obtained from the different molecular approaches, a new species complex, the Colletotrichum agaves complex is introduced. This complex consists of five taxa which are characterised by the presence of straight or slightly curved conidia with obtuse apices. This study shows that coalescent approaches and multi-locus phylogeny are crucial to establish species boundaries in Colletotrichum. The taxonomic placement of three singleton taxa Colletotrichum axonopodi, C. cariniferi and C. parallelophorum is revised. We accept 248 species and provide recommendations regarding species boundaries in the graminicola–caudatum complex.

To date, the majority of mycological studies are focused on Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Research on basal fungi is rather limited with an obvious scarcity of data. Classification of basal fungi has witnessed ongoing changes in the last few decades. There have been numerous taxonomic revisions, establishment of new phyla and debates on the possibility to exclude some basal lineages from the currently circumscribed fungal groups. Zoosporic phyla such as Rozellomycota, Aphelidiomycota and Chytridiomycota are characterized by zoospores, which are motile spores with a flagellum. The position of the first two within the fungal kingdom is currently being debated. Non zoosporic phyla are collectively called zygomycetous fungi and include Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota. Basal fungi perform important ecological roles. Some groups of basal fungi control the population density of plankton, Oomycetes, aphids, and small invertebrates, while taking part in recycling of energy and matter in food webs. A few basal fungi are known for uptaking toxic heavy metals from the environment. The earliest basal fungi emerged just after the divergence of the nucleariid line of phagotrophs. Various taxonomic studies question the monophyly of some basal phyla, such as Chytridiomycota. Depending on the life mode of the fungi and whether motile or non-motile spores are produced, the isolation methods differ. For the culture of parasitic zoosporic fungi, co-culturing the fungi with their host is recommended while for saprobes ones, baits can be used. For zygomycetous fungi, common methods include dilution plating and direct inoculation. In this review, we pinpoint research gaps and discuss the current classification schemes along with information on evolution, diversity, current methods and challenges to isolate and culture basal fungi.

True fungi (Fungi) and fungus-like organisms (e.g. Mycetozoa, Oomycota) constitute the second largest group of organisms based on global richness estimates, with around 3 million predicted species. Compared to plants and animals, fungi have simple body plans with often morphologically and ecologically obscure structures. This poses challenges for accurate and precise identifications. Here we provide a conceptual framework for the identification of fungi, encouraging the approach of integrative (polyphasic) taxonomy for species delimitation, i.e. the combination of genealogy (phylogeny), phenotype (including autecology), and reproductive biology (when feasible). This allows objective evaluation of diagnostic characters, either phenotypic or molecular or both. Verification of identifications is crucial but often neglected. Because of clade-specific evolutionary histories, there is currently no single tool for the identification of fungi, although DNA barcoding using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) remains a first diagnosis, particularly in metabarcoding studies. Secondary DNA barcodes are increasingly implemented for groups where ITS does not provide sufficient precision. Issues of pairwise sequence similarity-based identifications and OTU clustering are discussed, and multiple sequence alignment-based phylogenetic approaches with subsequent verification are recommended as more accurate alternatives. In metabarcoding approaches, the trade-off between speed and accuracy and precision of molecular identifications must be carefully considered. Intragenomic variation of the ITS and other barcoding markers should be properly documented, as phylotype diversity is not necessarily a proxy of species richness. Important strategies to improve molecular identification of fungi are: (1) broadly document intraspecific and intragenomic variation of barcoding markers; (2) substantially expand sequence repositories, focusing on undersampled clades and missing taxa; (3) improve curation of sequence labels in primary repositories and substantially increase the number of sequences based on verified material; (4) link sequence data to digital information of voucher specimens including imagery. In parallel, technological improvements to genome sequencing offer promising alternatives to DNA barcoding in the future. Despite the prevalence of DNA-based fungal taxonomy, phenotype-based approaches remain an important strategy to catalog the global diversity of fungi and establish initial species hypotheses.

In this paper, Claviformisporagen. nov. in Linocarpaceae is introduced from Phyllostachys heteroclada in Sichuan Province, China. The new genus is characterised by its distinct morphological characters, such as ostiole with periphyses, asci with a thick doughnut-shaped, J- apical ring and clavate ascospore without septum-like band and appendage. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference phylogenetic analyses, based on DNA sequence data from ITS, LSU, SSU and TEF-1α regions, provide further evidence that the fungus is a distinct genus within this family. The new genus is compared with similar genera, such as Linocarpon and Neolinocarpon. Descriptions, illustrations and notes are provided for the new taxon.

The recent realistic estimate of fungal numbers which used various algorithms was between 2.2 and 3.8 million. There are nearly 100,000 accepted species of Fungi and fungus-like taxa, which is between 2.6 and 4.5% of the estimated species. Several forums such as Botanica Marina series, Fungal Diversity notes, Fungal Biodiversity Profiles, Fungal Systematics and Evolution—New and Interesting Fungi, Mycosphere notes and Fungal Planet have enhanced the introduction of new taxa and nearly 2000 species have been introduced in these publications in the last decade. The need to define a fungal species more accurately has been recognized, but there is much research needed before this can be better clarified. We address the evidence that is needed to estimate the numbers of fungi and address the various advances that have been made towards its understanding. Some genera are barely known, whereas some plant pathogens comprise numerous species complexes and numbers are steadily increasing. In this paper, we examine ten genera as case studies to establish trends in fungal description and introduce new species in each genus. The genera are the ascomycetes Colletotrichum and Pestalotiopsis (with many species or complexes), Atrocalyx, Dothiora, Lignosphaeria, Okeanomyces, Rhamphoriopsis, Thozetella, Thyrostroma (relatively poorly studied genera) and the basidiomycete genus Lepiota. We provide examples where knowledge is incomplete or lacking and suggest areas needing further research. These include (1) the need to establish what is a species, (2) the need to establish how host-specific fungi are, not in highly disturbed urban areas, but in pristine or relatively undisturbed forests, and (3) the need to establish if species in different continents, islands, countries or regions are different, or if the same fungi occur worldwide? Finally, we conclude whether we are anywhere near to flattening the curve in new species description.

This study led to the discovery of three entomopathogenic fungi associated with Kuwanaspis howardi, a scale insect on Phyllostachys heteroclada (fishscale bamboo) and Pleioblastus amarus (bitter bamboo) in China. Two of these species belong to Podonectria: P. kuwanaspidis X.L. Xu &amp, C.L. Yang sp. nov. and P. novae-zelandiae Dingley. The new species P. kuwanaspidis has wider and thicker setae, longer and wider asci, longer ascospores, and more septa as compared with similar Podonectria species. The morphs of extant species P. novae-zelandiae is confirmed based on sexual and asexual morphologies. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1-α, and rpb2 sequence data provide further evidence for the validity of the two species and their placement in Podonectriaceae (Pleosporales). The second new species, Microcera kuwanaspidis X.L. Xu &amp, C.L. Yang sp. nov., is established based on DNA sequence data from ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1-α, rpb1, rpb2, acl1, act, cmdA, and his3 gene regions, and it is characterized by morphological differences in septum numbers and single conidial mass.

This article provides an outline of the classification of the kingdom Fungi (including fossil fungi. i.e. dispersed spores, mycelia, sporophores, mycorrhizas). We treat 19 phyla of fungi. These are Aphelidiomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiobolomycota, Basidiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Calcarisporiellomycota, Caulochytriomycota, Chytridiomycota, Entomophthoromycota, Entorrhizomycota, Glomeromycota, Kickxellomycota, Monoblepharomycota, Mortierellomycota, Mucoromycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Olpidiomycota, Rozellomycota and Zoopagomycota. The placement of all fungal genera is provided at the class-, order- and family-level. The described number of species per genus is also given. Notes are provided of taxa for which recent changes or disagreements have been presented. Fungus-like taxa that were traditionally treated as fungi are also incorporated in this outline (i.e. Eumycetozoa, Dictyosteliomycetes, Ceratiomyxomycetes and Myxomycetes). Four new taxa are introduced: Amblyosporida ord. nov. Neopereziida ord. nov. and Ovavesiculida ord. nov. in Rozellomycota, and Protosporangiaceae fam. nov. in Dictyosteliomycetes. Two different classifications (in outline section and in discussion) are provided for Glomeromycota and Leotiomycetes based on recent studies. The phylogenetic reconstruction of a four-gene dataset (18S and 28S rRNA, RPB1, RPB2) of 433 taxa is presented, including all currently described orders of fungi., Nalin N. Wijayawardene thanks Mushroom Research Foundation and National Science Foundation of China (No. NSFC 31950410558) for financially supporting this project. Kevin D. Hyde acknowledges the Foreign Experts Bureau of Yunnan Province, Foreign Talents Program (2018; grant no. YNZ2018002), Thailand Research grants entitled Biodiversity, phylogeny and role of fungal endophytes on above parts of Rhizophora apiculata and Nypa fruticans (grant no: RSA5980068), the future of specialist fungi in a changing climate: baseline data for generalist and specialist fungi associated with ants, Rhododendron species and Dracaena species (grant no: DBG6080013), Impact of climate change on fungal diversity and biogeography in the Greater Mekong Subregion (grant no: RDG6130001). H.T. Lumbsch thanks support by the Grainger Bioinformatics Center. E. Malosso is grateful to CAPES for financial support (grant no. 88881.062172/2014-01). B.T. Goto, G.A. Silva and K. Jobim, L.C. Maia acknowledges CNPq (Brazilian Scientific Council, grants no. 465.420/2014-1, 307.129/2015-2 and 408011/2016-5) and CAPES for support. The study was partially supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, under Grants No. 2015/17/D/NZ8/00778 and 2017/25/B/NZ8/00473 to Julia Pawłowska. The research of Martin Kukwa received support from the National Science Centre (NCN) in Poland (project no 2015/17/B/NZ8/02441). Alan J.L. Phillips acknowledges the support from UID/MULTI/04046/2019 Research Unit grant from FCT, Portugal to BioISI. H. Zhang is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project ID: NSF 31500017). S. Boonmee would like to thank the Thailand Research Fund (Project No. TRG6180001). Dong-Qin Dai and Li-Zhou Tang would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. NSFC 31760013, NSFC 31260087, NSFC 31460561), the Scientific Research Foundation of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education (2017ZZX186) and the Thousand Talents Plan, Youth Project of Yunnan Provinces for support. R. Phookamsak, M. Doilom, D. N. Wanasinghe, S.C. Karunarathna and J.C. Xu express sincere appreciations to Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. QYZDY-SSW-SMC014) for research financial support. R. Phookamsak thanks the Yunnan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (grant no. Y836181261), Chiang Mai University and National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project code 31850410489 for research financial support. S.C. Kaunarathna thanks CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for funding his postdoctoral research (No. 2018PC0006) and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for funding this work under the project code 31851110759. S. Tibpromma would like to thank the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program (number Y9180822S1), CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) (number 2020PC0009), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and the Yunnan Human Resources, and Social Security Department Foundation for funding her postdoctoral research. Yuri S. Tokarev, Elena S. Nassonova and Irma V. Issi are indebtful to Yuliya Y. Sokolova (Institute of Cytology RAS, St. Petersbug, Russia) and Anastasia V. Simakova (Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia) for kind permission of reproduction of electron microscopy images of Metchnikovella incurvata and Crepidulospora beklemishevi, respectively. Yuri S. Tokarev and Irma V. Issi thank Russian Foundation of Basic Research, grant number 17-04-00871 (taxonomy of Rozellomycota). Elena S. Nassonova thank Russian Foundation of Basic Research, grant number 18-04-01359 (early evolution of Microsporidia, phylogeny of Metchnikovellida). Adam Flakus and Pamela Rodriguez-Flakus are greatly indebted to all staff of the Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz and the SERNAP (http://sernap.gob.bo), for their generous cooperation providing permits, assistance and facilities support for scientific studies. The research of AF and PRF were financially supported by the National Science Centre (NCN) in Poland (DEC-2013/11/D/NZ8/03274). Adam Flakus and Pamela Rodriguez-Flakus received additional support under statutory funds from the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland. The authors would like to thank Yunnan Innovation Platform for Development and Utilization of Symbiotic Fungi Resources for finance support. Li-Fang Zhang would like to thank grant-in-aid from Science and Technology Department of Yunnan Province (2018FD080) for finance support. Chun-Ying Deng thanks the Biodiversity Survey and Assessment Project of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (2019HJ2096001006). Yingqian Kang would like to thank Guizhou Scientific Plan Project [(2019) 2873]; Excellent Youth Talent Training Project of Guizhou Province [(2017) 5639]; Guiyang Science and Technology Project [(2017) No. 5-19]; Talent Base Project of Guizhou Province, China [FCJD2018-22]; Research Fund of Education Bureau of Guizhou Province, China [(2018) 481]. D. N. Wanasinghe would like to thank the CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for funding his postdoctoral research (number 2019PC0008), the National Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for financial support under the following grants: 41761144055, 41771063 and Y4ZK111B01. Yuri K. Novozhilov and Oleg N. Shchepin acknowledge support from the Russian Foundation of Basic Research, project 18-04-01232 А. Ivana Kušan, Neven Matočec, Armin Mešić and Zdenko Tkalčec are grateful to Croatian Science Foundation for their financial support under the project grant HRZZ-IP-2018-01-1736 (ForFungiDNA). K. Tanaka would like to thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS 19K06802)

Fungal diversity notes is one of the important journal series of fungal taxonomy that provide detailed descriptions and illustrations of new fungal taxa, as well as providing new information of fungal taxa worldwide. This article is the 11th contribution to the fungal diversity notes series, in which 126 taxa distributed in two phyla, six classes, 24 orders and 55 families are described and illustrated. Taxa in this study were mainly collected from Italy by Erio Camporesi and also collected from China, India and Thailand, as well as in some other European, North American and South American countries. Taxa described in the present study include two new families, 12 new genera, 82 new species, five new combinations and 25 new records on new hosts and new geographical distributions as well as sexual-asexual reports. The two new families areEriomycetaceae(Dothideomycetes, familyincertae sedis) andFasciatisporaceae(Xylariales, Sordariomycetes). The twelve new genera compriseBhagirathimyces(Phaeosphaeriaceae),Camporesiomyces(Tubeufiaceae),Eriocamporesia(Cryphonectriaceae),Eriomyces(Eriomycetaceae),Neomonodictys(Pleurotheciaceae),Paraloratospora(Phaeosphaeriaceae),Paramonodictys(Parabambusicolaceae),Pseudoconlarium(Diaporthomycetidae, genusincertae sedis),Pseudomurilentithecium(Lentitheciaceae),Setoapiospora(Muyocopronaceae),Srinivasanomyces(Vibrisseaceae) andXenoanthostomella(Xylariales, generaincertae sedis). The 82 new species compriseAcremonium chiangraiense,Adustochaete nivea,Angustimassarina camporesii,Bhagirathimyces himalayensis,Brunneoclavispora camporesii,Camarosporidiella camporesii,Camporesiomyces mali,Camposporium appendiculatum,Camposporium multiseptatum,Camposporium septatum,Canalisporium aquaticium,Clonostachys eriocamporesiana,Clonostachys eriocamporesii,Colletotrichum hederiicola,Coniochaeta vineae,Conioscypha verrucosa,Cortinarius ainsworthii,Cortinarius aurae,Cortinarius britannicus,Cortinarius heatherae,Cortinarius scoticus,Cortinarius subsaniosus,Cytospora fusispora,Cytospora rosigena,Diaporthe camporesii,Diaporthe nigra,Diatrypella yunnanensis,Dictyosporium muriformis,Didymella camporesii,Diutina bernali,Diutina sipiczkii,Eriocamporesia aurantia,Eriomyces heveae,Ernakulamia tanakae,Falciformispora uttaraditensis,Fasciatispora cocoes,Foliophoma camporesii,Fuscostagonospora camporesii,Helvella subtinta,Kalmusia erioi,Keissleriella camporesiana,Keissleriella camporesii,Lanspora cylindrospora,Loratospora arezzoensis,Mariannaea atlantica,Melanographium phoenicis,Montagnula camporesii,Neodidymelliopsis camporesii,Neokalmusia kunmingensis,Neoleptosporella camporesiana,Neomonodictys muriformis,Neomyrmecridium guizhouense,Neosetophoma camporesii,Paraloratospora camporesii,Paramonodictys solitarius,Periconia palmicola,Plenodomus triseptatus,Pseudocamarosporium camporesii,Pseudocercospora maetaengensis,Pseudochaetosphaeronema kunmingense,Pseudoconlarium punctiforme,Pseudodactylaria camporesiana,Pseudomurilentithecium camporesii,Pseudotetraploa rajmachiensis,Pseudotruncatella camporesii,Rhexocercosporidium senecionis,Rhytidhysteron camporesii,Rhytidhysteron erioi,Septoriella camporesii,Setoapiospora thailandica,Srinivasanomyces kangrensis,Tetraploa dwibahubeeja,Tetraploa pseudoaristata,Tetraploa thrayabahubeeja,Torula camporesii,Tremateia camporesii,Tremateia lamiacearum,Uzbekistanica pruni,Verruconis mangrovei,Wilcoxina verruculosa,Xenoanthostomella chromolaenaeandXenodidymella camporesii. The five new combinations areCamporesiomyces patagoniensis,Camporesiomyces vaccinia,Camposporium lycopodiellae,Paraloratospora gahniaeandRhexocercosporidium microsporum. The 22 new records on host and geographical distribution compriseArthrinium marii,Ascochyta medicaginicola,Ascochyta pisi,Astrocystis bambusicola,Camposporium pellucidum,Dendryphiella phitsanulokensis,Diaporthe foeniculina,Didymella macrostoma,Diplodia mutila,Diplodia seriata,Heterosphaeria patella,Hysterobrevium constrictum,Neodidymelliopsis ranunculi,Neovaginatispora fuckelii,Nothophoma quercina,Occultibambusa bambusae,Phaeosphaeria chinensis,Pseudopestalotiopsis theae,Pyxine berteriana,Tetraploa sasicola,Torula gaodangensisandWojnowiciella dactylidis. In addition, the sexual morphs ofDissoconium eucalyptiandPhaeosphaeriopsis pseudoagavacearumare reported fromLaurus nobilisandYucca gloriosain Italy, respectively. The holomorph ofDiaporthe cynaroidisis also reported for the first time.

Sordariomycetes is one of the largest classes of Ascomycota that comprises a highly diverse range of fungi mainly characterized by perithecial ascomata and inoperculate unitunicate asci. Freshwater Sordariomycetes play an important role in ecosystems and some of them have the potential to produce bioactive compounds. This study documents and reviews the freshwater Sordariomycetes, which is one of the largest and important groups of fungi in aquatic habitats. Based on evidence from DNA sequence data and morphology, we introduce a new order Distoseptisporales, two new families, viz. Ceratosphaeriaceae and Triadelphiaceae, three new genera, viz.Aquafiliformis,DematiosporiumandNeospadicoides, 47 new species, viz.Acrodictys fluminicola,Aquafiliformis lignicola,Aquapteridospora fusiformis,Arthrinium aquaticum,Ascosacculus fusiformis,Atractospora aquatica,Barbatosphaeria lignicola,Ceratosphaeria aquatica,C. lignicola,Chaetosphaeria aquatica,Ch. catenulata,Ch. guttulata,Ch. submersa,Codinaea yunnanensis,Conioscypha aquatica,C. submersa,Cordana aquatica,C. lignicola,Cosmospora aquatica,Cylindrotrichum submersum,Dematiosporium aquaticum,Dictyochaeta cangshanensis,D. ellipsoidea,D. lignicola,D. submersa,Distoseptispora appendiculata,D. lignicola,D. neorostrata,D. obclavata,Hypoxylon lignicola,Lepteutypa aquatica,Myrmecridium aquaticum,Neospadicoides aquatica,N. lignicola,N. yunnanensis,Ophioceras submersum,Peroneutypa lignicola,Phaeoisaria filiformis,Pseudostanjehughesia lignicola,Rhodoveronaea aquatica,Seiridium aquaticum,Sporidesmiella aquatica,Sporidesmium lageniforme,S. lignicola,Tainosphaeria lunata,T. obclavata,Wongia aquatica, two new combinations, viz.Acrodictys aquatica,Cylindrotrichum aquaticum, and 9 new records, viz.Chaetomium globosum,Chaetosphaeria cubensis,Ch. myriocarpa,Cordana abramovii,Co. terrestris,Cuspidatispora xiphiago,Sporidesmiella hyalosperma,Stachybotrys chartarum,S. chlorohalonata. A comprehensive classification of the freshwater Sordariomycetes is presented based on updated literature. Phylogenetic inferences based on DNA sequence analyses of a combined LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF1α dataset comprising species of freshwater Sordariomycetes are provided. Detailed information including their habitats distribution, diversity, holotype, specimens collected and classification are provided.

Micropeltidaceae species are flyspeck fungi which have been subjected to few systematic studies. We re-examined 27 genera which were accepted in the Micropeltidaceae and re-described them based on herbaria materials and protologues. Based on morphology and phylogenetic investigations, we transfer Micropeltidaceae to a new order, Micropeltidales (Lecanoromycetes). Genera with bluish or greenish upper walls (Dictyopeltella, Dictyothyriella, Dictyothyrina, Dictyothyrium, Haplopeltheca, Micropeltis, Scolecopeltidium and Stomiopeltopsis) are accepted in the new taxonomic concept for Micropeltidaceae. A molecular clock approach estimated the divergence time of the Micropeltidaceae crown group at 130 (165–104) Mya, which also supports its rank as an order (diverging from 220–100 Mya). The evolutionary histories between Micropeltidaceae species and host plants are interpreted by cophylogenetic analyses calibrated by their divergence times. The result indicates that the diversification of Angiospermae (130–80 Mya) fosters the formation of genera of Micropeltidaceae mainly via cospeciation events, and this codivergent period would be an important reference when establishing generic boundaries of epifoliar fungi.

Phaeosphaeria ampeli is a new species collected from dead leaves of Ficus ampelas in Fanlu Township area, Dahu forest, Chiayi, Taiwan. Phaeosphaeria musae is a new record from dead leaves of Roystonea regia. Both species are described, illustrated and compared with similar species. Phaeosphaeria ampeli is distinguished from other Phaeosphaeria species based on distinct size differences of the ascomata, asci, ascospores and analyses of DNA sequence data. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of combined ITS, LSU, SSU and tef1-α sequence data are used to clarify the phylogenetic affinities of the species.

The marine environment harbours diverse bacterial species which can be exploited for the production of valuable compounds such as exopolysaccharides (EPS) which hold promises for biotechnological applications. The coastal waters of Mauritius is a relatively underexplored marine environment and in this study, isolated bacterial species were tested for the production of EPS exhibiting antibacterial properties against human bacterial pathogens from the genera Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Campylobacter, Enterobacter, Enterococcus, Escherichia, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus. Bacteria were first isolated from seawater samples. Using the disc diffusion method, their EPS were tested for antibacterial effects through two screenings, with each involving a different set of arbitrarily chosen group of pathogens. The microorganisms producing antibacterial EPS were subsequently identified by morphological, biochemical and 16S rRNA-based phylogenetic analyses. Those EPS exhibiting broadest antibacterial activities were eventually characterised by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Eight EPS were found to display antibacterial effects against more than half of the pathogens and the microorganisms producing them were identified as Bacillus, Halomonas, Psychrobacter and Alcaligenes species. However, only two of these EPS were found to be the most active, with their MIC values ranging between 62.5 and 500 μg/ml. FTIR and TLC analyses revealed the presence of carboxyl, hydroxyl and amide as well as sulphate for the EPS, with glucose or fructose being the main sugar. The results suggest that Mauritius seawater can be a source of biotechnologically useful microorganisms, producing EPS having potential as antimicrobial agents. DNA sequence data also suggest possible novel bacterial species.

Fungicolous fungi are a very large, diverse, ecological and trophic group of organisms that are associated with other fungi. This association occurs with species of different lineages across the fungal kingdom. They are recognized as symbionts, mycoparasites, saprotrophs, and even neutrals. Wherever fungi have been found, fungicolous taxa have also been found. Homogeneous environments favour the development of highly adapted and coevolved fungicolous species, which could have led to host-specificity aspects. As a primary consumer, fungicolous fungi decrease the turnaround time of certain nutrients in food webs, due to their special often-rapid life cycles. They may also significantly affect population dynamics and population sizes of their hosts in aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems. As mycoparasites of pathogenic fungi, some fungicolous fungi have been explored as biocontrol agents. They may also cause serious diseases of cultivated edible and medicinal mushrooms, decreasing both yield and quality. Fungicolous fungi could be used as model organisms that may help determine better understanding of species interactions, fungal evolution and divergence, and fungicolous mechanisms. This review summarizes our current understanding of fungicolous fungi, with a particular focus on the terminology, diversity, global distribution, and interaction with their hosts. We also provide a checklist including 1552 fungicolous fungal taxa so far recorded following the updated classification schemes. There is a need for further investigations on this ecologically important group of fungi to better understand their biology, ecological aspects, origin and divergence, host-specificity and application in biocontrol. Accurate identification of these fungi as pathogens and their significance in quarantine purposes on the mushroom industry need further evaluations so that efficient control measures can be developed for better disease management purposes.

This article is the ninth in the series of Fungal Diversity Notes, where 107 taxa distributed in three phyla, nine classes, 31 orders and 57 families are described and illustrated. Taxa described in the present study include 12 new genera, 74 new species, three new combinations, two reference specimens, a re-circumscription of the epitype, and 15 records of sexual-asexual morph connections, new hosts and new geographical distributions. Twelve new genera comprise Brunneofusispora, Brunneomurispora, Liua, Lonicericola, Neoeutypella, Paratrimmatostroma, Parazalerion, Proliferophorum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis, Septomelanconiella, Velebitea and Vicosamyces. Seventy-four new species are Agaricus memnonius, A. langensis, Aleurodiscus patagonicus, Amanita flavoalba, A. subtropicana, Amphisphaeria mangrovei, Baorangia major, Bartalinia kunmingensis, Brunneofusispora sinensis, Brunneomurispora lonicerae, Capronia camelliae-yunnanensis, Clavulina thindii, Coniochaeta simbalensis, Conlarium thailandense, Coprinus trigonosporus, Liua muriformis, Cyphellophora filicis, Cytospora ulmicola, Dacrymyces invisibilis, Dictyocheirospora metroxylonis, Distoseptispora thysanolaenae, Emericellopsis koreana, Galiicola baoshanensis, Hygrocybe lucida, Hypoxylon teeravasati, Hyweljonesia indica, Keissleriella caraganae, Lactarius olivaceopallidus, Lactifluus midnapurensis, Lembosia brigadeirensis, Leptosphaeria urticae, Lonicericola hyaloseptispora, Lophiotrema mucilaginosis, Marasmiellus bicoloripes, Marasmius indojasminodorus, Micropeltis phetchaburiensis, Mucor orantomantidis, Murilentithecium lonicerae, Neobambusicola brunnea, Neoeutypella baoshanensis, Neoroussoella heveae, Neosetophoma lonicerae, Ophiobolus malleolus, Parabambusicola thysanolaenae, Paratrimmatostroma kunmingensis, Parazalerion indica, Penicillium dokdoense, Peroneutypa mangrovei, Phaeosphaeria cycadis, Phanerochaete australosanguinea, Plectosphaerella kunmingensis, Plenodomus artemisiae, P. lijiangensis, Proliferophorum thailandicum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis kaveriana, Pseudohelicomyces menglunicus, Pseudoplagiostoma mangiferae, Robillarda mangiferae, Roussoella elaeicola, Russula choptae, R. uttarakhandia, Septomelanconiella thailandica, Spencermartinsia acericola, Sphaerellopsis isthmospora, Thozetella lithocarpi, Trechispora echinospora, Tremellochaete atlantica, Trichoderma koreanum, T. pinicola, T. rugulosum, Velebitea chrysotexta, Vicosamyces venturisporus, Wojnowiciella kunmingensis and Zopfiella indica. Three new combinations are Baorangia rufomaculata, Lanmaoa pallidorosea and Wojnowiciella rosicola. The reference specimens of Canalisporium kenyense and Tamsiniella labiosa are designated. The epitype of Sarcopeziza sicula is re-circumscribed based on cyto- and histochemical analyses. The sexual-asexual morph connection of Plenodomus sinensis is reported from ferns and Cirsium for the first time. In addition, the new host records and country records are Amanita altipes, A. melleialba, Amarenomyces dactylidis, Chaetosphaeria panamensis, Coniella vitis, Coprinopsis kubickae, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Leptobacillium leptobactrum var. calidus, Muyocopron lithocarpi, Neoroussoella solani, Periconia cortaderiae, Phragmocamarosporium hederae, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola., Rungtiwa Phookamsak thanks CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for Young Staff 2019–2021 (grant number 2019FY0003), the Research Fund from China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. Y71B283261), the Yunnan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (Grant No. Y836181261), and National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project code 31850410489 for financial research support. Kevin D. Hyde thanks the Foreign Experts Bureau of Yunnan Province, Foreign Talents Program (2018; Grant No. YNZ2018002), Thailand Research grants entitled Biodiversity, phylogeny and role of fungal endophytes on above parts of Rhizophora apiculata and Nypa fruticans (Grant No: RSA5980068), the future of specialist fungi in a changing climate: baseline data for generalist and specialist fungi associated with ants, Rhododendron species and Dracaena species (Grant No: DBG6080013), Impact of climate change on fungal diversity and biogeography in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Grant No: RDG6130001). Jianchu Xu thanks the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. QYZDY-SSW-SMC014). Peter E Mortimer would like to thank the National Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for financial support under the following grants: 41761144055, 41771063 and Y4ZK111B01. Olivier Raspé is grateful to the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (Belgium) for travel grants. Samantha C. Karunarathna thanks CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for funding his postdoctoral research (Grant No. 2018PC0006) and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC, project code 31750110478). Dhanushaka N. Wanasinghe would like to thank CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for funding his postdoctoral research (Grant No. 2019PC0008). E.B. Gareth Jones is supported under the Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Program (DSFP), King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia., Aniket Ghosh, Kanad Das, Priyanka Uniyal, Rajendra P. Bhatt, Tahir Mehmood, and Upendra Singh are grateful to the Head, Department of Botany & Microbiology & USIC Dept. HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal and thank to the Director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata for providing all kinds of facilities during the present study and UGC for providing fellowship to Aniket Ghosh, Priyanka Uniyal and Tahir Mehmood. K. P. Deepna Latha acknowledge the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) in the form of a PhD fellowship (Grant No. 001/FSHP/2011/CSTE) and the Principal Chief Conservator of forests, Kerala State, for granting permission (No. WL10- 4937/2012, dated 03-10-2013) to collect agarics from the forests of Kerala. K. N. Anil Raj thanks the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India, in the form of an award of CSIR Research Associateship (09/043(0178) 2K17 dated: 31/03/2017). Mao-Qiang He and Rui-Lin Zhao thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project ID: 31470152 and 31360014) and the Foundation of Innovative Group of Edible Mushrooms Industry of Beijing (Project ID:BAIC05-2017). Mingkwan Doilom would like to thank the 5th batch of Postdoctoral Orientation Training Personnel in Yunnan Province and the 64th batch of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation., Tatiana Baptista Gibertoni and Renato Lu´cio Mendes Alvarenga acknowledge Dr. Viacheslav Spirin for the taxonomic and morphological advises, CNPq for the Ph.D scholarship of RLMA (140283/ 2016-1), Po´s-Graduac¸a˜o em Biologia de Fungos (UFPE, Brazil), Capes (Capes-SIU 008/13), CNPq (PQ 307601/2015-3) and FACEPE (APQ 0375-2.03/15) for funding the research. Margarita Duen˜as, M. Teresa Telleria and Marı´a P. Martı´n acknowledge financial support from the Agreement ENDESA and San Ignacio de Huinay Foundations and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientı´ficas, CSIC (Projects No. 2011HUIN10, 2013CL0012, 2014CL0011), the AECID (Agencia Espan˜ola de Cooperacio´n Internacional para el Desarrollo) and Plan Nacional I ? D?i project no. CGL2015–67459–P; to Reinhard Fitzek (San Ignacio del Huinay Foundation, Chile) for his invaluable help during fieldwork, and M. Glenn (Seton Hall University, US) for revising the text and Miguel Jerez and Yolanda Ruiz Leo´n for SEM technical assistance. Sandra Nogal-Prata was supported by a Predoctoral Grant from the Ministerio de Economı´a y Competitividad (Spain) (BES-2016-077793). Armin Mesˇic´ and Zdenko Tkalcˇec thank Croatian Science Foundation for their partial support under the project HRZZ-IP-2018-01-1736 (ForFungiDNA) and are grateful to Milan Cˇ erkez for collecting specimens of coprinoid taxa for this study. Hyang Burm Lee was supported by the Graduate Program for the Undiscovered Taxa of Korea, and the Project on Survey and Discovery of Indigenous Fungal Species of Korea funded by NIBR and Project on Discovery of Fungi from Freshwater and Collection of Fungarium funded by NNIBR of the Ministry of Environment (MOE), and in part carried out with the support of Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (PJ013744), Rural Development Administration, and BK21 PLUS program funded by Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea., Mubashar Raza would like to thank the CASTWAS for the PhD Fellowship. Sanjay K. Singh, Paras Nath Singh, Shiwali Rana and Frank Kwekucher Ackah thank Director, MACS, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, India for providing facilities. Shiwali Rana and Frank Kwekucher Ackah thank UGC (Junior Research Fellowship) and DST, Govt. of India (CV Raman Fellowship for African Researchers), respectively. Gen-Nuo Wang, Huang Zhang, Wei Dong and Xian-Dong Yu thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project ID: NSF 31500017). Bandarupalli Devadatha and V. Venkateswara Sarma thank The Ministry of Earth sciences, Govt. of India (Sanction order: MOES/36/OO1S/ Extra/40/2014/PC-IV dt.14.1.2015) for a funding of the project, T, District Forest Office, Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu and PCCF (Head of Forest Force), Chennai, Tamil Nadu Forest Department for providing permission to collect samples from Muthupet mangroves, and Department of Biotechnology, Pondicherry University is thanked for providing the facilities. Myung Soo Park, Seung-Yoon Oh and Young Woon Lim thank the Marine Bio Resource Bank Program of the Ministry of Ocean & Fisheries, Korea. Olinto Pereira thanks the CAPES, CNPq and FAPEMIG for financial support. Neven Matocˇec, Ivana Kusˇan and Margita Jadan express their gratitude to Livio Lorenzon, Enrico Bizio and Raffaella Trabucco (MCVE) for their kind help with loan of Sarcopeziza sicula type material; parts of their, research were financed by Public Institutions Sjeverni Velebit National Park and Paklenica National Park. Dong-Qin Dai and LiZhou Tang thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. NSFC 31760013, NSFC 31260087, NSFC 31460561), the Scientific Research Foundation of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education (2017ZZX186) and utilization of endophytes and the Thousand Talents Plan, Youth Project of Yunnan Provinces. Ting-Chi Wen, Chada Norphanphoun and Shi-Ke Huang are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31760014) and the Science and Technology Foundation of Guizhou Province (No. [2017]5788). Monika C. Dayarathne thanks to Thailand Research Fund (TRF) Grant No MRG6080089 for financial research support. Napalai Chaiwan thanks The Royal Golden Jubilee Ph. D. Program (PHD60K0147) under Thailand Research Fund, for financial research supports on project entitle ‘‘Fungi on limestone outcrops from southern Thailand to lower himalyas’’. Saranyaphat Boonmee and Sirinapa Konta would like to thank the National Research Council of Thailand (Grant No. 61215320023, 61215320013) and the Thailand Research Fund (Grant No. TRG6180001) for research financial support. Saisamorn Lumyong would like to thank the Thailand Research Fund (RTA 5880006) and Chiang Mai University for partially support this research work. Itthyakorn Promputtha would like to thank Chiang Mai University for partially supported this research work. Lei Cai acknowledges China-Thailand Joint Lab on Microbial Biotechnology (Most KY201701011) for financial support. PhD students from Mae Fah Laung and Chiang Mai Universities thank the Mushroom Research Foundation for research financial support and PhD Fellowships.

During surveys of ascomycetes from the Western Tien Shan Mountains in Uzbekistan, we collected a coelomycetous taxon on a dead trunk and branches of Lonicera altmannii. The taxon is morphologically distinct from other known melanommataceous taxa based on its unique set of characters, such as superficial to erumpent, uniloculate conidiomata, and globose ellipsoidal or ovoid, dark-brown, multiseptate conidia. It is introduced herein as Melanocamarosporioides ugamica gen. et sp. nov. within the family Melanommataceae. Multiloci phylogenies based on LSU, SSU, ITS, and TEF1-α sequence data generated from maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony and MrBayes analyses indicate that M. ugamica forms a distinct lineage within Melanommataceae and its establishment as a new genus is supported. Descriptions, illustrations, and appraisal on taxonomy for the taxa are provided.

Neostagonosporellasichuanensis sp. nov. was found on Phyllostachysheteroclada collected from Sichuan Province in China and is introduced in a new genus Neostagonosporella gen. nov. in this paper. Evidence for the placement of the new taxon in the family Phaeosphaeriaceae is supported by morphology and phylogenetic analysis of a combined LSU, SSU, ITS and TEF 1-α DNA sequence dataset. Maximum-likelihood, maximum-parsimony and Bayesian inference phylogenetic analyses support Neostagonosporella as a distinct genus within this family. The new genus is compared with related genera of Phaeosphaeriaceae and full descriptions and illustrations are provided. Neostagonosporella is characterised by its unique suite of characters, such as multiloculate ascostromata and cylindrical to fusiform, transversely multiseptate, straight or curved ascospores, which are widest at the central cells. Conidiostromata are multiloculate, fusiform to long fusiform or rhomboid, with two types conidia; macroconidia vermiform or subcylindrical to cylindrical, transversely multiseptate, sometimes curved, almost equidistant between septa and microconidia oval, ellipsoidal or long ellipsoidal, aseptate, rounded at both ends. An updated phylogeny of the Phaeosphaeriaceae based on multigene analysis is provided.

Botryosphaeriaceous fungi cause stem blight, canker and dieback in woody plants. During a survey on the fungal pathogens associated with blueberries in China, 135 blighted, cankered or dead blueberry branches were collected from Fujian and Shandong Provinces. Based on the morphological characterization and phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated ITS rDNA, tef1-α, TUB, and RPB2 loci, five new species of Lasiodiplodia, viz., L. clavispora, L. fujianensis, L. henanica, L. nanpingensis and L. paraphysoides were recognized. Detailed descriptions and illustrations, as well as multigene phylogenies, are provided in this paper. The diversity of plant pathogens on agriculturally and economically important plants is higher than anticipated.

Immotthia is a poorly known genus, and currently, no DNA sequence data are available to ascertain its proper phylogenetic placement and evolutionary relationships with other bitunicate fungi. To date, there are only two species accepted in the genus. During our ongoing research study of bambusicolous fungi in southwest China and Thailand, a fungus associated with stromata of Hypoxylon sp. was found on dead bamboo culms in Loei Province, Thailand. Preliminary morphological identification revealed that the fungal collection belongs to Immotthia. A novel species, Immotthia bambusae, is introduced herein based on a comparison of morphological characteristics with the type specimen of I. hypoxylon (≡ Amphisphaeria hypoxylon Ellis and Everh.), a synonym of I. atrograna (Cooke and Ellis) M. E. Barr. Phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated ITS, LSU, SSU, and TEF1-α DNA sequence matrix showed that Immotthia belongs to Dictyosporiaceae, Pleosporales. Despite I. bambusae strains constituting a supported subclade, they are nested with the genus Pseudocoleophoma. Pseudocoleophoma clematidis is morphologically different from all other Pseudocoleophoma species, while its conidial characteristics are similar to Cyclothyriella. Multigene phylogenetic analyses showed that P. clematidis formed a clade basal to Immotthia, separated from Pseudocoleophoma with strong statistical support. Therefore, we introduce a monotypic genus, Pseudocyclothyriella Phukhams. and Phookamsak, gen. nov. to accommodate the single species, Pseudocyclothyriella clematidis (Phukhams. and K. D. Hyde) Phukhams. and Phookamsak, comb. nov. Detailed descriptions, color micrographs, and phylogenetic trees to show the placement of the new taxa are provided. In addition, an updated taxonomic treatment of the genera Immotthia and Pseudocyclothyriella is also provided based on the study of the type materials and phylogeny generated from DNA sequence data.

Collections of fungal samples from two dead leaf specimens from Italy were subjected to morphological examination and phylogenetic analyses. Two coelomycetous taxa belonging to two different genera in Xylariomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, namely Discosia and Sporocadus, were identified. The Discosia taxon is revealed as a new species and is herein introduced as Discosia ravennicasp. nov. while the Sporocadus taxon is identified as Sporocadus rosigena. Multi-locus phylogeny based on DNA sequence data of the large subunit (LSU) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal genes, β-tubulin (β-tub) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2) showed that D. ravennica is related to D. neofraxinea but it forms an independent lineage that supports its new species status. The new taxon also differs from other Discosia species by its unilocular to bilocular, superficial and applanate conidiomata with basal stroma composed of cells of textura angularis, elongate-ampulliform conidiogenous cells and conidia smaller in size. Sporocadus rosigena is here reported as a new host record from Quercus ilex from Italy. Descriptions, illustrations and molecular data for both species are provided in this paper.

The identification and proper naming of microfungi, in particular plant, animal and human pathogens, remains challenging. Molecular identification is becoming the default approach for many fungal groups, and environmental metabarcoding is contributing an increasing amount of sequence data documenting fungal diversity on a global scale. This includes lineages represented only by sequence data. At present, these taxa cannot be formally described under the current nomenclature rules. By considering approaches used in bacterial taxonomy, we propose solutions for the nomenclature of taxa known only from sequences to facilitate consistent reporting and communication in the literature and public sequence repositories.

Within the field of mycology, macrofungi have been relatively well-studied when compared to microfungi. However, the diversity and distribution of microfungi inhabiting woody material have not received the same degree of research attention, especially in relatively unexplored regions, such as Yunnan Province, China. To help address this knowledge gap, we collected and examined fungal specimens from different plants at various locations across Yunnan Province. Our investigation led to the discovery of four species that are clearly distinct from extant ones. These taxonomic novelties were recognized based on morphological comparisons coupled with phylogenetic analyses of multiple gene sequences (non-translated loci and protein-coding regions). The monotypic genus Neoheleiosa gen. nov. (type: N. lincangensis) is introduced in Monoblastiaceae (Monoblastiales) for a woody-based saprobic ascomycete that possesses globose to subglobose or obpyriform ascomata with centric or eccentric, papillate ostioles, an ascomatal wall with thin-walled cells of textura globulosa, cylindric, pedicellate asci with an ocular chamber, and 1-septate, brown, guttulate, longitudinally striated, bicellular ascospores. Neoheleiosa has a close phylogenetic affinity to Heleiosa, nevertheless, it is morphologically dissimilar by its peridium cells and ornamented ascospores. Acrocalymma hongheense and A. yuxiense are described and illustrated as new species in Acrocalymmaceae. Acrocalymma hongheense is introduced with sexual and asexual (coelomycetous) features. The sexual morph is characterized by globose to subglobose, ostiolate ascomata, a peridium with textura angularis cells, cylindric-clavate asci with a furcate to truncate pedicel and an ocular chamber, hyaline, fusiform, 1-septate ascospores which are surrounded by a thick, distinct sheath, and the asexual morph is featured by pycnidial conidiomata, subcylindrical, hyaline, smooth, annelledic, conidiogenous cells, hyaline, guttulate, subcylindrical, aseptate conidia with mucoid ooze at the apex and with a rounded hilum at the base. Acrocalymma yuxiense is phylogenetically distinct from other extant species of Acrocalymma and differs from other taxa in Acrocalymma in having conidia with three vertical eusepta. Magnibotryascoma kunmingense sp. nov. is accommodated in Teichosporaceae based on its coelomycetous asexual morph which is characterized by pycnidial, globose to subglobose, papillate conidiomata, enteroblastic, annelledic, discrete, cylindrical to oblong, hyaline conidiogenous cells arising from the inner layer of pycnidium wall, subglobose, oval, guttulate, pale brown and unicelled conidia.

Species ofCordycepssensu lato (Hypocreales, Sordariomycetes) have always attracted much scientific attention for their abundant species diversity, important medicinal values and biological control applications. The insect superfamilies Elateroidea and Tenebrionoidea are two large groups of Coleoptera and their larvae are generally called wireworms. Most wireworms inhabit humid soil or fallen wood and are often infected withCordycepss.l. However, the species diversity ofCordycepss.l. on Elateroidea and Tenebrionoidea is poorly known. In the present work, we summarise taxonomic information of 63Cordycepss.l. species that have been reported as pathogens of wireworms. We review their hosts and geographic distributions and provide taxonomic notes for species. Of those, 60 fungal species are accepted as natural pathogens of wireworms and three species (Cordyceps militaris,Ophiocordyceps ferruginosaandO. variabilis) are excluded. Two new species,O. borealisfrom Russia (Primorsky Krai) andO. spicatusfrom China (Guizhou), are described and compared with their closest allies.Polycephalomyces formosusis also described because it is reported as a pathogen of wireworms for the first time. Phylogeny was reconstructed from a combined dataset, comprising SSU, LSU and TEF1-α gene sequences. The results, presented in this study, support the establishment of the new species and confirm the identification ofP. formosus.

This is a continuation of a series focused on providing a stable platform for the taxonomy of phytopathogenic fungi and fungus-like organisms. This paper focuses on one family:Erysiphaceaeand 24 phytopathogenic genera:Armillaria, Barriopsis,Cercospora,Cladosporium,Clinoconidium,Colletotrichum,Cylindrocladiella,Dothidotthia,,Fomitopsis,Ganoderma,Golovinomyces,Heterobasidium,Meliola,Mucor,Neoerysiphe,Nothophoma,Phellinus,Phytophthora,Pseudoseptoria,Pythium,Rhizopus,Stemphylium,ThyrostromaandWojnowiciella.Each genus is provided with a taxonomic background, distribution, hosts, disease symptoms, and updated backbone trees. Species confirmed with pathogenicity studies are denoted when data are available. Six of the genera are updated from previous entries as many new species have been described.

The website http://outlineoffungi.org, is launched to provide a continuous up-to-date classification of the kingdom Fungi (including fossil fungi) and fungus-like taxa. This is based on recent publications and on the outline of fungi and fungus-like taxa published recently (Mycosphere 11, 1060-1456, Doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8). The website is continuously updated according to latest classification schemes, and will present an important platform for researchers, industries, government officials and other users. Users can provide input about missing genera, new genera, and new data. They will also have the opportunity to express their opinions on classifications with notes published in the 'Notes' section of the webpage following review and editing by the curators and independent experts. The website will provide a system to stay abreast of the continuous changes in fungal classification and provide a general consensus on the systematics of fungi.

A novel species of Penicillium, proposed as P. linzhiense sp.nov was isolated from soil collected in Linzhi Town, Linzhi County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. DNA sequence analyses from eight different gene regions indicate that the isolate represents a novel species and most closely related to P. janczewskii. The phylogenetic analysis based on a concatenated dataset of three genes, ITS, CaM, and BenA, also confirmed the placement of the novel species within the Canescentia section of the genus Penicillium. Differences in morphology among similar species are detailed and single gene phylogenies based on ITS, CaM and BenA genes as well as a multi-loci gene phylogeny are presented. Cultural studies were performed to study inhibitory activities on plant pathogens. The results reveal a notable antifungal activity against Pyricularia oryzae causing rice blast with an inhibition rate up to 77%, while for other three citrus pathogens, Diaporthe citri, Phyllosticta citrichinaensis, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, inhibition rate was 40, 50, and 55% respectively. No noticeable effects were observed for Fusarium graminearum, Botryosphaeria kuwatsukai, and Rhizoctonia solani. Interestingly, unlike other reported members of Canescentia, P. linzhiense showed no antagonistic effect on root rotting fungi. The new taxon isolated here has the potential to be used as a biocontrol agent especially for economically important phytopathogens or emerging pathogens on diseases occurring on citrus or rice.

According to the World Health Organization, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases are highly debilitating and pose the greatest threats to public health. Diseases of the nervous system are caused by a particular pathological process that negatively affects the central and peripheral nervous systems. These diseases also lead to the loss of neuronal cell function, which causes alterations in the nervous system structure, resulting in the degeneration or death of nerve cells throughout the body. This causes problems with movement (ataxia) and mental dysfunction (dementia), both of which are commonly observed symptoms in Alzheimerʼs disease, Parkinsonʼs disease, Huntingtonʼs disease, and multiple sclerosis. Medicinal mushrooms are higher fungi with nutraceutical properties and are low in calories and fat. They are also a rich source of nutrients and bioactive compounds such as carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, and vitamins that have been used in the treatment of many ailments. Medicinal mushrooms such as Pleurotus giganteus, Ganoderma lucidium, and Hericium erinaceus are commonly produced worldwide for use as health supplements and medicine. Medicinal mushrooms and their extracts have a large number of bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharide β-glucan, or polysaccharide-protein complexes, like lectins, lactones, terpenoids, alkaloids, antibiotics, and metal-chelating agents. This review will focus on the role of the medicinal properties of different medicinal mushrooms that contain bioactive compounds with a protective effect against neuronal dysfunction. This information will facilitate the development of drugs against neurodegenerative diseases.

During an ongoing investigation of Ascomycetes from plant substrates, three saprobic species were found from plant substrates. Two new species, Leptosphaeria regiae and Neomicrosphaeropsis juglandis were isolated from dead branches of Juglans regia from Turkey. Another species is introduced herein as Subplenodomus urticae sp. nov within the family Leptosphaeriaceae found on Urtica dioica in Italy. Multigene phylogenies based on combined LSU, ITS, SSU and β-tubulin DNA sequence data generated from maximum likelihood and MrBayes analyses indicate that Leptosphaeria regiae is closely related to L. slovacica and L. pedicularis and forms an independent lineage within the genus Leptosphaeria. Subplenodomus urticae is basal to S. iridicola and its establishment as a new species is strongly supported. Neomicrosphaeropsis juglandis forms a moderately supported lineage in between N. italica and N. minima in the Didymellaceae. Full morphological details are provided herein and phylogenetic relationships of the three new species are also discussed.

Bruguiera gymnorhiza (L.) Lam. is claimed to effectively manage a number of ailments including diabetes and associated complications. Nonetheless, no attempt has been made to delineate its pharmacological propensities and phytochemical profile. This study was designed to appraise the antioxidant and enzymatic inhibitory properties relevant to the management of diabetes mellitus, obesity, and neurodegenerative and skin disorders. A combination of colorimetric assays and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) were applied for the phytochemical screening of leaf, root, twig, and fruit extracts (methanol and ethyl acetate). In vitro antioxidant evaluations were via radical scavenging abilities (DPPH, ABTS), reducing potential (FRAP, CUPRAC), chelating power, and total antioxidant capacity (phosphomolybdenum). Seven key metabolic enzymes (&alpha, amylase, &alpha, glucosidase, tyrosinase, elastase, lipase, AChE, and BChE) were targeted to determine the inhibitory effects. Multivariate and in silico docking analysis were performed on collected data. Methanolic fruit extract yielded the highest total phenolic, tannin, and triterpenoid contents (174.18 &plusmn, 4.27 mg GAE/g, 176.24 &plusmn, 3.10 mg CE/g, 63.11 &plusmn, 3.27 mg OAE/g, respectively), significantly depressed tyrosinase, elastase, and &alpha, amylase activities (155.35 &plusmn, 0.29 mg KAE/g, 4.56 &plusmn, 0.10 mg CAE/g, 1.00 &plusmn, 0.05 mmol ACAE/g, accordingly), and harboured the most potent antioxidant capacities with DPPH, CUPRAC, FRAP (492.62 &plusmn, 5.31, 961.46 &plusmn, 11.18, 552.49 &plusmn, 8.71 mg TE/g, respectively), and phosphomolybdenum (4.17 &plusmn, 0.31 mmol TE/g) assays. Multivariate analysis suggested that the type of solvents used influenced the biological activities more compared to plant parts. Docking analysis showed that azelaic acid binds with tyrosinase by Van der Waals and conventional hydrogen bonds. We anticipate that the present study may establish baseline data on this halophyte that could open new avenues for the development of biomedicine.

During our ongoing surveys of fungi on submerged wood in the Greater Mekong Subregion, we collected two new species similar to Bactrodesmium longisporum. Pseudobactrodesmium gen. nov. is introduced to accommodate the new species, P. aquaticum, P. chiangmaiensis and B. longisporum is transferred to this genus. Fasciculate conidiophores, enteroblastic conidiogenous cells and subulate to fusiform, phragmoseptate conidia with a tapering apical cell and sheath characterize the genus. Pseudobactrodesmium aquaticum has longer conidia than P. chiangmaiensis. The placement of Pseudobactrodesmium in Dactylosporaceae (Eurotiomycetes) is a novel finding based on analyses of combined LSU, SSU, ITS and RPB2 sequence data. Our study reveals that Pseudobactrodesmium is likely to be a speciose genus with different species in streams around the world.

Fungi have been often neglected, despite the fact that they provided penicillin, lovastatin and many other important medicines. They are an understudied, but essential, fascinating and biotechnologically useful group of organisms. The study of fungi in northern Thailand has been carried out by us since 2005. These studies have been diverse, ranging from ecological aspects, phylogenetics with the incorportation of molecular dating, taxonomy (including morphology and chemotaxonomy) among a myriad of microfungi, to growing novel mushrooms, and DNA-based identification of plant pathogens. In this paper, advances in understanding the biodiversity of fungi in the region are discussed and compared with those further afield. Many new species have been inventoried for the region, but many unknown species remain to be described and/or catalogued. For example, in the edible genus Agaricus, over 35 new species have been introduced from northern Thailand, and numerous other taxa await description. In this relatively well known genus, 93% of species novelty is apparent. In the microfungi, which are relatively poorly studied, the percentage of novel species is, surprisingly, generally not as high (55–96%). As well as Thai fungi, fungi on several hosts from Europe have been also investigated. Even with the well studied European microfungi an astounding percentage of new taxa (32–76%) have been discovered. The work is just a beginning and it will be a daunting task to document this astonishingly high apparent novelty among fungi.

This study deals with an extensive taxonomic reevaluation focusing on phylogenetic relationships and morphological characterization of Tubeufiales, especially those helicosporous hyphomycetes which are difficult to identify. Based on evidence from DNA sequence data and morphology, we introduce 13 new genera in the family Tubeufiaceae, viz. Acanthotubeufia, Dematiohelicoma, Dematiohelicomyces, Dematiohelicosporum, Dematiotubeufia, Helicoarctatus, Helicohyalinum, Helicotruncatum, Neochlamydotubeufia, Neohelicoma, Pleurohelicosporium, Pseudohelicomyces and Pseudohelicoon; transfer Chaetosphaerulina from Dothideomycetes genera incertae sedis, and Artocarpomyces and Helicodochium from Ascomycetes genera incertae sedis into Tubeufiaceae; introduce 52 new species, viz. Berkleasmium fusiforme, B. longisporum, Chlamydotubeufia cylindrica, Dematiohelicosporum guttulatum, Helicoarctatus aquaticus, Helicodochium aquaticum, Helicohyalinum infundibulum, Helicoma aquaticum, H. brunneisporum, H. cocois, H. rufum, H. fusiforme, H. longisporum, H. multiseptatum, H. rubriappendiculatum, H. septoconstrictum, H. tectonae, Helicomyces hyalosporus, Helicosporium aquaticum, H. flavisporum, H. setiferum, H. vesicarium, H. viridiflavum, Neochlamydotubeufia fusiformis, Neohelicomyces hyalosporus, Neohelicosporium acrogenisporum, N. astrictum, N. ellipsoideum, N. irregulare, N. krabiense, N. laxisporum, N. ovoideum, Pleurohelicosporium parvisporum, Pseudohelicomyces aquaticus, P. hyalosporus, Tubeufia abundata, T. bambusicola, T. brevis, T. brunnea, T. chlamydospora, T. dictyospora, T. eccentrica, T. fangchengensis, T. hechiensis, T. inaequalis, T. krabiensis, T. rubra, T. sessilis, T. sympodihylospora, T. sympodilaxispora, T. taiwanensis and T. tratensis; provide 43 new combinations, viz. Acanthohelicospora guianensis, Acanthotubeufia filiforme, Berkleasmium aquatica, B. guangxiense, B. latisporum, B. thailandicum, Dematiohelicoma perelegans, D. pulchrum, Dematiohelicomyces helicosporus, Dematiotubeufia chiangraiensis, Helicohyalinum aquaticum, Helicoma elinorae, H. gigasporum, H. hongkongense, H. linderi, H. nematosporum, H. pannosum, H. serpentinum, Helicomyces chiayiensis, Helicotruncatum palmigenum, Neochlamydotubeufia khunkornensis, Neohelicoma fagacearum, Neohelicomyces pallidus, Neohelicosporium abuense, N. aurantiellum, N. griseum, N. morganii, N. myrtacearum, N. nizamabadense, N. sympodiophorum, N. taiwanense, N. vesiculiferum, Pseudohelicomyces indicus, P. paludosus, P. talbotii, Pseudohelicoon gigantisporum, P. subglobosum, Tubeufia dentophora, T. geniculata, T. lilliputea, T. machaerinae, T. sympodiophora and T. xylophila; introduce 16 new records, viz. Dictyospora thailandica, Helicomyces colligatus, H. torquatus, Neohelicosporium guangxiense, N. hyalosporum, N. parvisporum, Thaxteriellopsis lignicola, Tubeufia aquatica, T. chiangmaiensis, T. cylindrothecia, T. filiformis, T. guangxiensis, T. laxispora, T. parvispora, T. roseohelicospora and T. tectonae. The taxonomy of Helicoma, Helicomyces and Helicosporium is revisited based on phylogenetic analyses and morphological evidence. Neorhamphoria is transferred to Bezerromycetaceae. Three species are excluded from the genus Chlamydotubeufia, twelve species from Helicoma, four species from Helicomyces, 25 species from Helicosporium, six species from Neoacanthostigma and one species from Tubeufia. A multi-gene phylogenetic tree based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TEF1α sequence data of species of Tubeufiales is provided. Detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided, as well as the morphological comparison with similar taxa are explored. The checklist of accepted Tubeufiales species and re-organised Tubeufiales species are provided.

Sulcispora is typified by S.pleurospora. We collected a sulcispora-like taxon on leaves of Anthoxanthumodoratum L. in Italy and obtained single ascospore isolates. Combined ITS, LSU, SSU and tef1 sequence analyses suggested that Sulcispora is placed in the family Phaeosphaeriaceae and a newly collected Sulcispora species is introduced here as S.supratumida sp. nov. Detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided for Sulcisporasupratumida and it is compared with the type species, S.pleurospora.

The advantages and disadvantages of giving a valid name to a sequence of DNA detected from environmental specimens is presently a hot debate amongst the mycological community. The idea of using intracellular DNA (“mgDNA”) from environmental samples as holotypes seems at face value, to be a good idea, considering the expansion of knowledge among these ‘dark taxa’ or ‘dark matter fungi’ that it could provide (i.e. sequence based taxa without physical specimens and formal nomenclature). However, the limitations of using mgDNA as holotypes needs careful thought, i.e. can we use a short mgDNA fragment, which may contain a small amount of genetic information, to allow discrimination between species? What is the point and are the potential problems of giving valid scientific names to mgDNA? Numerous mycologists and taxonomists, who have many years of experience working on the taxonomy and phylogeny of different groups of fungi, are concerned about the consequences of providing valid names to mgDNA. There has been much debate, through several publications on the considerable problems of using mgDNA as holotypes. The proponents have tried to debate the virtues of using mgDNA as holotypes. Those against have shown that identification to species using mgDNA does not work in many fungal groups, while those for have shown cases where species can be identified with mgDNA. Different disciplines have different reasons and opinions for using mgDNA as holotypes, however even groups of the same disciplines have dissimilar ideas. In this paper we explore the use of mgDNA as holotypes. We provide evidences and opinions as to the use of mgDNA as holotypes from our own experiences. In no way do we attempt to degrade the study of DNA from environmental samples and the expansion of knowledge in to the dark taxa, but relate the issues to fungal taxonomy. In fact we show the value of using sequence data from these approaches, in dealing with the discovery of already named taxa, taxa numbers and ecological roles. We discuss the advantages and the pitfalls of using mgDNA from environmental samples as holotypes. The impacts of expanding the nomenclatural concept to allow using mgDNA from environmental samples as holotypes are also discussed. We provide evidence from case studies on Botryosphaeria, Colletotrichum, Penicillium and Xylaria. The case studies show that we cannot use mgDNA due to their short fragments and the fact that most ITS sequence data presently result from environmental sequencing. We conclude from the evidence that it is highly undesirable to use mgDNA as holotypes in naming fungal species. If this approach adopted, it would result in numerous problems where species identification cannot be confirmed due to limited sequence data available for the holotypes. We also propose an alternative DNA-based system for naming DNA based species which would provide considerably less problems and should be adopted.

A novel species of Morosphaeria, Morosphaeria muthupetensis, saprobic on intertidal mangrove wood of Rhizophora mucronata from Muthupet mangroves on Kaveri River Delta, Tamil Nadu along the East coast of India, is described in this paper. Morosphaeria muthupetensis is characterized by large sub-globose to lenticular ascomata; long cylindrical to clavate, short pedicellate asci; small, fusiform to ellipsoidal ascospores with acute ends when compared to other Morosphaeria species. A multigene phylogeny obtained from a combined nuclear large subunit, small subunit, internal transcribed spacers rDNA and translation elongation factor 1-alpha sequence analysis revealed that M. muthupetensis is phylogenetically distinct and nested in between Morosphaeria velatispora and Morosphaeria ramunculicola and all these species constitute a strongly supported monophyletic clade sister to the genus Helicascus. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of M. muthupetensis are presented and compared with other Morosphaeria species.

To clarify phylogenetic relationships among Aquanectria, Cosmospora, Fusicolla and other related taxa in Nectriaceae, we examined detailed morphological characters and performed cladistic analyses of a concatenated dataset based on the ITS, LSU and β-tubulin DNA sequences of fungal specimens collected from freshwater habitats in China. A new genus, Cosmosporella, is described to accommodate C. olivacea as its type species. Cosmospora obscura is transferred to Cosmosporella based on morphological similarities and phylogenetic support. Aquanectria jacinthicolor, a freshwater lignicolous taxon, characterized by its orange ascomata and ellipsoid ascospores with broad paraphyses is a newly described freshwater species. This species has affinities with other two known species of Aquanectria and can be distinguished based on ascospore morphology. A specimen with sexual morph of Fusicolla aquaeductuum is reported for the first time.

A novel saprobic fungal genus, Thyridariella (Thyridariaceae), is herein described to include Thyridariella mangrovei, the type species and T. mahakoshae spp. nov. Both species were collected as saprobes on decaying wood of Avicennia marina, a common mangrove species found near Kaveri River Delta, Tamil Nadu, on the east coast of India. Thyridariella is diagnosed by having an exclusive combination of characters, such as ascomata with ostiolar necks thickened laterally, hyaline, and centrally constricted muriform ascospores with a single longitudinal septum in each segment and surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath. These characters demarcate these taxa from morphologically similar genera such as Halojulella and Julella. In addition, the new genus also differs from Parathyridaria and Thyridaria in having hyaline, muriform ascospores with distinct mucilaginous sheaths. The monophyly of Thyridariella is well supported in the phylogenetic analysis based on a concatenated dataset from two proteins and three nuclear gene regions. The phylogeny also depicts a sister group relationship of our new genus to Parathyridaria and Thyridaria and hence confirms its position within Thyridariaceae.

In this study, we report the discovery of Jahnula dianchia sp. nov., a freshwater lignicolous fungus belonging to the order Jahnulales (Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota), from a submerged woody substrate from Dianchi Lake, Yunnan, China. Morphologically, this new taxon differs from other species of the genus in ascospore morphology; the ascospores of the new species are dark brown with mammiform apices. We also provide a phylogenetic tree showing the molecular relationships between the new taxon with the previously accepted Jahnula species. The analysis of combined ITS, LSU, and SSU sequence dataset places J. dianchia within the Jahnulales sister to J. sangamonensis. The phylogeny also shows the placement of both strains of J. dianchia in a well-supported independent sub-clade.

Current investigations on taxonomy of lignicolous freshwater fungi in northwestern Yunnan, China, have led to the discovery of new fungal species and records that belong to the family Torulaceae. In this paper, 21 fresh collections of Torulaceae from submerged wood in freshwater are characterized based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TEF1α sequence data. A new monotypic genus Rostriconidium represented by Rostriconidium aquaticum sp. nov., one new species of Torula (Torula aquatica), and a single new Dendryphion species (Dendryphion fluminicola) are introduced based on their distinct morphological features and evidence from molecular phylogeny. Multigene phylogeny also supports the family Torulaceae as a strongly supported monophyletic lineage with clear intergeneric boundaries basal to Roussoellaceae. Descriptions of Torula ficus and Torula masonii from the new collections are also provided, and they are first records for China.

This paper is the seventh in the Fungal Diversity Notes series, where 131 taxa accommodated in 28 families are mainly described from Rosa (Rosaceae) and a few other hosts. Novel fungal taxa are described in the present study, including 17 new genera, 93 new species, four combinations, a sexual record for a species and new host records for 16 species. Bhatiellae, Cycasicola, Dactylidina, Embarria, Hawksworthiana, Italica, Melanocucurbitaria, Melanodiplodia, Monoseptella, Uzbekistanica, Neoconiothyrium, Neopaucispora, Pararoussoella, Paraxylaria, Marjia, Sporormurispora and Xenomassariosphaeria are introduced as new ascomycete genera. We also introduce the new species Absidia jindoensis, Alternaria doliconidium, A. hampshirensis, Angustimassarina rosarum, Astragalicola vasilyevae, Backusella locustae, Bartalinia rosicola, Bhatiellae rosae, Broomella rosae, Castanediella camelliae, Coelodictyosporium rosarum, Comoclathris rosae, C. rosarum, Comoclathris rosigena, Coniochaeta baysunika, C. rosae, Cycasicola goaensis, Dactylidina shoemakeri, Dematiopleospora donetzica, D. rosicola, D. salsolae, Diaporthe rosae, D. rosicola, Endoconidioma rosae-hissaricae, Epicoccum rosae, Hawksworthiana clematidicola, H. lonicerae, Italica achilleae, Keissleriella phragmiticola, K. rosacearum, K. rosae, K. rosarum, Lophiostoma rosae, Marjia tianschanica, M. uzbekistanica, Melanocucurbitaria uzbekistanica, Melanodiplodia tianschanica, Monoseptella rosae, Mucor fluvius, Muriformistrickeria rosae, Murilentithecium rosae, Neoascochyta rosicola, Neoconiothyrium rosae, Neopaucispora rosaecae, Neosetophoma rosarum, N. rosae, N. rosigena, Neostagonospora artemisiae, Ophiobolus artemisiicola, Paraconiothyrium rosae, Paraphaeosphaeria rosae, P. rosicola, Pararoussoella rosarum, Parathyridaria rosae, Paraxylaria rosacearum, Penicillium acidum, P. aquaticum, Phragmocamarosporium rosae, Pleospora rosae, P. rosae-caninae, Poaceicola agrostina, P. arundinicola, P. rosae, Populocrescentia ammophilae, P. rosae, Pseudocamarosporium pteleae, P. ulmi-minoris, Pseudocercospora rosae, Pseudopithomyces rosae, Pseudostrickeria rosae, Sclerostagonospora lathyri, S. rosae, S. rosicola, Seimatosporium rosigenum, S. rosicola, Seiridium rosarum, Setoseptoria arundelensis, S. englandensis, S. lulworthcovensis, Sigarispora agrostidis, S. caryophyllacearum, S. junci, S. medicaginicola, S. rosicola, S. scrophulariae, S. thymi, Sporormurispora atraphaxidis, S. pruni, Suttonomyces rosae, Umbelopsis sinsidoensis, Uzbekistanica rosae-hissaricae, U. yakutkhanika, Wojnowicia rosicola, Xenomassariosphaeria rosae. New host records are provided for Amandinea punctata, Angustimassarina quercicola, Diaporthe rhusicola, D. eres, D. foeniculina, D. rudis, Diplodia seriata, Dothiorella iberica, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Lecidella elaeochroma, Muriformistrickeria rubi, Neofusicoccum australe, Paraphaeosphaeria michotii, Pleurophoma pleurospora, Sigarispora caulium and Teichospora rubriostiolata. The new combinations are Dactylidina dactylidis (=Allophaeosphaeria dactylidis), Embarria clematidis (=Allophaeosphaeria clematidis), Hawksworthiana alliariae (=Dematiopleospora alliariae) and Italica luzulae (=Dematiopleospora luzulae). This study also provides some insights into the diversity of fungi on Rosa species and especially those on Rosa spines that resulted in the characterisation of eight new genera, 45 new species, and nine new host records. We also collected taxa from Rosa stems and there was 31% (20/65) overlap with taxa found on stems with that on spines. Because of the limited and non-targeted sampling for comparison with collections from spines and stems of the same host and location, it is not possible to say that the fungi on spines of Rosa differ from those on stems. The study however, does illustrate how spines are interesting substrates with high fungal biodiversity. This may be because of their hard structure resulting in slow decay and hence are suitable substrates leading to fungal colonisation. All data presented herein are based on morphological examination of specimens, coupled with phylogenetic sequence data to better integrate taxa into appropriate taxonomic ranks and infer their evolutionary relationships.

Palm fungi are highly diverse in the tropical regions of Asia. Recent investigations on these palmicolous fungi have led to the collection of astrosphaeriella-like taxa from Calamus, Caryota, and Licuala species in Thailand (Chiang Rai and Narathiwat provinces) and southwest China (Yunnan Province). This study characterizes fungal taxa, which are new to science, based on morphological examination and concatenated DNA sequence data, to infer their familial relationships. Morphological comparisons reveal six new species, viz. Astrosphaeriellopsis caryotae, Fissuroma calami, F. caryotae, Neoastrosphaeriella sribooniensis, Pithomyces caryotae, and P. licualae. Their similarities and differences to other extant species are discussed. The phylogenetic results indicate that all of these new taxa belong to Aigialaceae and Astrosphaeriellaceae (Pleosporales) and support their establishment. Astrosphaeriellopsis is assigned to Astrosphaeriellaceae and the family is amended in order to accommodate both coelomycetous and hyphomycetous asexual morphs. A generic key is presented for Astrosphaeriellaceae to delimit Astrosphaeriella, Astrosphaeriellopsis, Pteridiospora, and Pithomyces. Asexual morph connections of Pithomyces caryotae and P. licualae are established from axenic cultures derived from single ascospores. DNA-based sequence data supports the establishment of our new species; however, the affinities of Astrosphaeriella tornata to other Astrosphaeriella and Pithomyces species are unclear and warrant further investigations with increased taxon sampling.

The diversity of lignicolous freshwater fungi of the Greater Mekong Subregion are currently being studied. In this paper, 18 fresh collections of Pleurotheciaceae from submerged wood in freshwater are characterized based on morphological characters and analyses of ITS, LSU, SSU and RPB2 sequence data. Six new species of Pleurotheciella (P. aquatica, P. fusiformis, P. guttulata, P. lunata, P. saprophytica, P. submersa), one new Phaeoisaria species (Ph. aquatica) and one new Pleurothecium species (Pl. aquaticum) are introduced based on their distinct morphology and evidence from molecular phylogeny. Pleurotheciella uniseptata, Phaeoisaria clematidis and Pleurothecium pulneyense are also redescribed and phylogenetic relationships assessed herein, these species are the first records for China.

This is the fourth in a series of Mycosphere notes wherein we provide notes on various fungal genera. In this set of notes, we introduce Phaeoseptaceae as a new family, Pseudobyssosphaeria (Melanommataceae) as a new genus, 40 new species, 11 new host or country records, one reference specimen, one new combination and provide a description of the holotype of Uleodothis balansiana (Dothideaceae). The new species are Acrospermum longisporium (Acrospermaceae), Ascitendus aquaticus (Annulatascaceae), Ascochyta clinopodiicola (Didymellaceae), Asterina magnoliae (Asterinaceae), Barbatosphaeria aquatica (Barbatosphaeriaceae), Camarosporidiella populina (Camarosporidiellaceae), Chaetosphaeria mangrovei (Chaetosphaeriaceae), Cytospora predappioensis, Cytospora prunicola (Cytosporaceae), Dendryphiella phitsanulokensis (Dictyosporiaceae), Diaporthe subcylindrospora, Diaporthe subellipicola (Diaporthaceae), Diplodia arengae (Botryosphaeriaceae), Discosia querci (Sporocadaceae), Dyfrolomyces sinensis (Pleurotremataceae), Gliocladiopsis aquaticus (Nectriaceae), Hysterographium didymosporum (Pleosporomycetidae genera, incertae sedis), Kirschsteiniothelia phoenicis (Kirschsteiniotheliaceae), Leptogium thailandicum (Collemataceae), Lophodermium thailandicum (Rhytismataceae), Medicopsis chiangmaiensis (Neohendersoniaceae), Neocamarosporium phragmitis (Neocamarosporiaceae), Neodidymelliopsis negundinis (Didymellaceae), Neomassarina pandanicola (Sporormiaceae), Neooccultibambusa pandanicola (Occultibambusaceae), Neophaeosphaeria phragmiticola (Neophaeosphaeriaceae), Neosetophoma guiyangensis (Phaeosphaeriaceae), Neosetophoma shoemakeri (Phaeosphaeriaceae), Neosetophoma xingrensis (Phaeosphaeriaceae), Ophiocordyceps cylindrospora (Ophiocordycipitaceae), Otidea pseudoformicarum (Otideaceae), Periconia elaeidis (Periconiaceae), Phaeoisaria guttulata, Pleurotheciella krabiensis, Pleurotheciella tropica (Pleurotheciaceae), Pteridiospora bambusae (Astrosphaeriellaceae), Phaeoseptum terricola (Phaeoseptaceae), Poaceascoma taiwanense (Lentitheciaceae), Pseudobyssosphaeria bambusae (Melanommataceae) and Roussoella mangrovei (Roussoellaceae). The new host records or new country records are provided for Alfaria terrestris (Stachybotryaceae), Arthrinium phragmites (Apiosporaceae), Bertiella ellipsoidea (Melanommataceae), Brevicollum hyalosporum (Neohendersoniaceae), Byssosphaeria siamensis (Melanommataceae), Cerothallia subluteoalba (Teloschistaceae), Cryptophiale hamulata (Chaetosphaeriaceae), Didymella aliena (Didymellaceae), Epicoccum nigrum (Didymellaceae), Periconia pseudobyssoides (Periconiaceae) and Truncatella angustata (Sporocadaceae).

Meliolaceae is an obligate biotrophic fungal family which cannot be cultured in artificial media. This has resulted in a lack of DNA sequence data in public databases to better resolve species taxonomy. The main criterion for specific classification, therefore, relied heavily on host association. Fresh collections from living leaves of Croton persimilis and Tamarindus indica with black colonies in Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand yielded a new species, Irenopsis crotonicola sp. nov., and a new record of Meliola tamarindi. These taxa are described and phenotypic comparisons are made with known species. To better classify the putative novel species that cannot be cultivated, we outline the protocol to extract DNA from fruiting bodies and generate new phylogenetic data. The results indicate that this direct DNA extraction method is suitable to yield quality DNA sufficient for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications of several commonly used DNA regions in fungal systematics. The 28S rDNA phylogram generated confirms the position of our taxa within Meliolaceae and indicate a close relationship of I. crotonicola sp. nov. to I. walsurae. Sequences of tef, β-tubulin, and GPDH regions of Meliolaceae are provided as well.

Melomastia is a genus of saprobic fungal species found on wood, with 29 species epithets listed in Index Fungorum. The classification of species in the genus has been a challenge due to a high degree of morphological overlap and a lack of DNA based phylogenies. The present study clarifies the phylogenetic placement of the genus and with an additional new species based on a fresh collection from Italy. The new species, Melomastia italica, is described based on morphological and relationships inferred from phylogenetic analyses of SSU and LSU sequence data. Melomastia is accommodated within the family Pleurotremaceae in the class Dothideomycetes. The phylogenetic relationships and intergeneric taxonomy within the family Pleurotremaceae are revisited, while Dyfrolomyces maolanensis is transferred to the genus Melomastia.

This is the sixth in a series of papers where we bring collaborating mycologists together to produce a set of notes of several taxa of fungi. In this study we introduce a new family Fuscostagonosporaceae in Dothideomycetes. We also introduce the new ascomycete genera Acericola, Castellaniomyces, Dictyosporina and Longitudinalis and new species Acericola italica, Alternariaster trigonosporus, Amarenomyces dactylidis, Angustimassarina coryli, Astrocystis bambusicola, Castellaniomyces rosae, Chaetothyrina artocarpi, Chlamydotubeufia krabiensis, Colletotrichum lauri, Collodiscula chiangraiensis, Curvularia palmicola, Cytospora mali-sylvestris, Dictyocheirospora cheirospora, Dictyosporina ferruginea, Dothiora coronillae, Dothiora spartii, Dyfrolomyces phetchaburiensis, Epicoccum cedri, Epicoccum pruni, Fasciatispora calami, Fuscostagonospora cytisi, Grandibotrys hyalinus, Hermatomyces nabanheensis, Hongkongmyces thailandica, Hysterium rhizophorae, Jahnula guttulaspora, Kirschsteiniothelia rostrata, Koorchalomella salmonispora, Longitudinalis nabanheensis, Lophium zalerioides, Magnibotryascoma mali, Meliola clerodendri-infortunati, Microthyrium chinense, Neodidymelliopsis moricola, Neophaeocryptopus spartii, Nigrograna thymi, Ophiocordyceps cossidarum, Ophiocordyceps issidarum, Ophiosimulans plantaginis, Otidea pruinosa, Otidea stipitata, Paucispora kunmingense, Phaeoisaria microspora, Pleurothecium floriforme, Poaceascoma halophila, Periconia aquatica, Periconia submersa, Phaeosphaeria acaciae, Phaeopoacea muriformis, Pseudopithomyces kunmingnensis, Ramgea ozimecii, Sardiniella celtidis, Seimatosporium italicum, Setoseptoria scirpi, Torula gaodangensis and Vamsapriya breviconidiophora. We also provide an amended account of Rhytidhysteron to include apothecial ascomata and a J+ hymenium. The type species of Ascotrichella hawksworthii (Xylariales genera incertae sedis), Biciliopsis leptogiicola (Sordariomycetes genera incertae sedis), Brooksia tropicalis (Micropeltidaceae), Bryochiton monascus (Teratosphaeriaceae), Bryomyces scapaniae (Pseudoperisporiaceae), Buelliella minimula (Dothideomycetes genera incertae sedis), Carinispora nypae (Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae), Cocciscia hammeri (Verrucariaceae), Endoxylina astroidea (Diatrypaceae), Exserohilum turcicum (Pleosporaceae), Immotthia hypoxylon (Roussoellaceae), Licopolia franciscana (Vizellaceae), Murispora rubicunda (Amniculicolaceae) and Doratospora guianensis (synonymized under Rizalia guianensis, Trichosphaeriaceae) were re-examined and descriptions, illustrations and discussion on their familial placement are given based on phylogeny and morphological data. New host records or new country reports are provided for Chlamydotubeufia huaikangplaensis, Colletotrichum fioriniae, Diaporthe subclavata, Diatrypella vulgaris, Immersidiscosia eucalypti, Leptoxyphium glochidion, Stemphylium vesicarium, Tetraploa yakushimensis and Xepicula leucotricha. Diaporthe baccae is synonymized under Diaporthe rhusicola. A reference specimen is provided for Periconia minutissima. Updated phylogenetic trees are provided for most families and genera. We introduce the new basidiomycete species Agaricus purpurlesquameus, Agaricus rufusfibrillosus, Lactifluus holophyllus, Lactifluus luteolamellatus, Lactifluus pseudohygrophoroides, Russula benwooii, Russula hypofragilis, Russula obscurozelleri, Russula parapallens, Russula phoenicea, Russula pseudopelargonia, Russula pseudotsugarum, Russula rhodocephala, Russula salishensis, Steccherinum amapaense, Tephrocybella constrictospora, Tyromyces amazonicus and Tyromyces angulatus and provide updated trees to the genera. We also introduce Mortierella formicae in Mortierellales, Mucoromycota and provide an updated phylogenetic tree. Fil: Hyde, Kevin D.. Mae Fah Luang University. Center Of Excellence In Fungal Research; Tailandia Fil: Norphanphoun, Chada. Mae Fah Luang University. Center Of Excellence In Fungal Research; Tailandia Fil: Abreu, Vanessa P.. Universidade Federal de Viçosa; Brasil Fil: Bazzicalupo, Anna. University of British Columbia; Canadá Fil: Thilini Chethana, K. W.. Mae Fah Luang University. Center Of Excellence In Fungal Research; Tailandia Fil: Romero, Andrea Irene. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Micología y Botánica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Micología y Botánica; Argentina Fil: Liu, Jian-Kui. Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences; China Fil: Liu, Zuo-Yi. Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences; China Fil: Longoni Plautz Jr., Helio. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Brasil Fil: Lumyong, Saisamorn. Chiang Mai University; Tailandia Fil: Maharachchikumbura, Sajeewa S. N.. Sultan Qaboos University; Omán Fil: Matočec, Neven. Ruđer Bošković Institute; Croacia Fil: McKenzie, Eric H. C.. Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua; Nueva Zelanda Fil: Mešić, Armin. Ruđer Bošković Institute; Croacia Fil: Miller, Daniel. Puget Sound Mycological Society; Estados Unidos Fil: Pawłowska, Julia. University of Warsaw; Polonia Fil: Pereira, Olinto L.. Universidade Federal de Viçosa; Brasil Fil: Promputtha, Itthayakorn. Mae Fah Luang University; Tailandia Fil: Ryvarden, Leif. University of Oslo; Noruega Fil: Su, Hong-Yan. Dali University; China Fil: Suetrong, Satinee. National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; Tailandia Fil: Tkalčec, Zdenko. Ruđer Bošković Institute; Croacia Fil: Vizzini, Alfredo. Università di Torino; Italia Fil: Wen,Ting-Chi. Guizhou University; China Fil: Wisitrassameewong, Komsit. Seoul National University; Corea del Sur Fil: Wrzosek, Marta. University of Warsaw; Polonia Fil: Xu, Jian-Chu. Mae Fah Luang University; Tailandia Fil: Zhao, Qi. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China Fil: Zhao, Rui-Lin. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China Fil: Mortimer, Peter E.. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China

Background The past years have witnessed a growing number of researches in biofilm forming communities due to their environmental and maritime industrial implications. To gain a better understanding of the early bacterial biofilm community, microfiber nets were used as artificial substrates and incubated for a period of 24 h in Mauritian coastal waters. Next-generation sequencing technologies were employed as a tool for identification of early bacterial communities. Different genes associated with quorum sensing and cell motility were further investigated. Results Proteobacteria were identified as the predominant bacterial microorganisms in the biofilm within the 24 h incubation, of which members affiliated to Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria were among the most abundant classes. The biofilm community patterns were also driven by phyla such as Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. The functional analysis based on KEGG classification indicated high activities in carbohydrate, lipid and amino acids metabolism. Different genes encoding for luxI, lasI, agrC, flhA, cheA and cheB showed the involvement of microbial members in quorum sensing and cell motility. Conclusion This study provides both an insight on the early bacterial biofilm forming community and the genes involved in quorum sensing and bacterial cell motility.

A concatenated dataset of LSU, SSU, ITS and tef1 DNA sequence data was analysed to investigate the taxonomic position and phylogenetic relationships of the genus Camarosporium in Pleosporineae (Dothideomycetes). Newly generated sequences from camarosporium-like taxa collected from Europe (Italy) and Russia form a well-supported monophyletic clade within Pleosporineae. A new genus Camarosporidiella and a new family Camarosporidiellaceae are established to accommodate these taxa. Four new species, Neocamarosporium korfii, N. lamiacearum, N. salicorniicola and N. salsolae, constitute a strongly supported clade with several known taxa for which the new family, Neocamarosporiaceae, is introduced. The genus Staurosphaeria based on S. lycii is resurrected and epitypified, and shown to accommodate the recently introduced genus Hazslinszkyomyces in Coniothyriaceae with significant statistical support. Camarosporium quaternatum, the type species of Camarosporium and Camarosporomyces flavigena cluster together in a monophyletic clade with significant statistical support and sister to the Leptosphaeriaceae. To better resolve interfamilial/intergeneric level relationships and improve taxonomic understanding within Pleosporineae, we validate Camarosporiaceae to accommodate Camarosporium and Camarosporomyces. The latter taxa along with other species are described in this study.

The history of assigning ranks to fungi, as well as the relative importance of using divergence time estimates is reviewed. The paper pays tribute to the major mycological players, and especially to David Hawksworth on his 70th birthday and his contribution to fungal ranking in Systema Ascomycetum from 1982 to 1998. Following the conclusion of the latter series, the ranking continued with the Outlines of Ascomycota in 2007 and 2010 and more recently with specific classes in 'Towards an outline of Sordariomycetes' and 'Families of Dothideomycetes'. Earlier classifications based on phenotype were certainly more subjective; however, remarkably many of these old arrangements have stood the test of time. More recently, phylogenetic analyses have provided evidence towards a natural classification, resulting in significant changes in many lineages. The classification arrangements however, are still subjective and dependent on the taxa analysed, resulting in different taxonomic interpretations and schemes, particularly when it comes to ranking. Thus, what have been considered as genera by some, have been introduced as families by others. More recently, estimation of divergence times using molecular clock methods have been used as objective evidence for higher ranking of taxa. A divergence period (i.e. 200-300 MYA) can be used as a criterion to infer when a group of related taxa evolved and what rank they should be given. We compiled data on divergence times for various higher ranking taxa in the Kingdom Fungi. The kingdom evolved 1000-1600 MYA (Stenian-Calymmian), while the presently accepted phyla evolved between 358 and 541 MYA (Devonian-Cambrian). Divergence times for subphyla are generally between 358 and 485 MYA (Devonian-Ordovician), those of classes 145-358 MYA (Jurassic-Carboniferous), subclasses 66-358 MYA (Cretaceous-Carboniferous), orders 23-252 MYA (Paleogene-Triassic), families 2.8-145 MYA (Neogene-Cretaceous), and genera 2.8-66 MYA (Neogene-Paleogene). Thus, there are wide discrepancies in the times different taxa diverged. We provide an overview over Ascomycota, showing how application of temporal banding could affect the recognition of higher taxa at certain rank levels. We then use Sordariomycetes as an example where we use divergence times to provide additional evidence to stabilize ranking of taxa below class level. We propose a series of evolutionary periods that could be used as a guide to determine the various higher ranks of fungi: phyla[550 MYA, subphyla 400-550 MYA; classes 300-400 MYA; subclasses 250-300 MYA, orders 150-250 MYA, and families 50-150 MYA. It is proposed that classification schemes and ranking of taxa should, where possible, incorporate a polyphasic approach including phylogeny, phenotype, and estimate of divergence times.

The previous phylogenies of Sordariomycetes by M.E. Barr, O.E. Eriksson and D.L. Hawksworth, and T. Lumbsch and S. Huhndorf, were mainly based on morphology and thus were somewhat subjective. Later outlines by T. Lumbsch and S. Huhndorf, and Maharachchikumbura and co-authors, took into account phylogenetic evidence. However, even these phylogenetic driven arrangements for Sordariomycetes, were somewhat subjective, as the arrangements in trees depended on many variables, such as number of taxa, different gene regions and methods used in the analyses. What is needed is extra evidence to help standardize ranking in the fungi. Estimation of divergence times using molecular clock methods has been proposed for providing additional rational for higher ranking of taxa. Thus, in Sordariomycetes, a divergence period (i.e. 200–300 MYA) can be used as criteria to judge when a group of related taxa evolved and what rank they should be given. In this paper, we provide an updated classification of accepted subclasses, orders of Sordariomycetes and use divergence times to provide additional evidence to stabilize ranking of taxa in the class. We point out and discuss discrepancies where the phylogenetic tree conflicts with the molecular clock.