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Stictidaceae comprises taxa with diverse lifestyles. Many species in this family are drought resistant and important for studying fungal adaptation and evolution. Stictidaceae comprises 32 genera, but many of them have been neglected for decades due to the lack of field collections and molecular data. In this study, we introduce a new species Fitzroyomyces hyaloseptisporus and a new combination Fitzroyomyces pandanicola. We also provide additional morphological and molecular data for Ostropomyces pruinosellus and O. thailandicus based on new collections isolated from an unidentified woody dicotyledonous host in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Taxonomic conclusions are made with the aid of morphological evidence and phylogenetic analysis of combined LSU, ITS and mtSSU sequence data. Characteristics such as the shape and septation of ascospores and conidia as well as lifestyles among genera of Stictidaceae are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostropales sensu lato is a large group comprising both lichenized and non-lichenized fungi, with several lineages expressing optional lichenization where individuals of the same fungal species exhibit either saprotrophic or lichenized lifestyles depending on the substrate (bark or wood). Greatly variable phenotypic characteristics and large-scale phylogenies have led to frequent changes in the taxonomic circumscription of this order. Ostropales sensu lato is currently split into Graphidales, Gyalectales, Odontotrematales, Ostropales sensu stricto, and Thelenellales. Ostropales sensu stricto is now confined to the family Stictidaceae, which includes a large number of species that are poorly known, since they usually have small fruiting bodies that are rarely collected, and thus, their taxonomy remains partly unresolved. Here, we introduce a new genus Ostropomyces to accommodate a novel lineage related to Ostropa, which is composed of two new species, as well as a new species of Sphaeropezia, S. shangrilaensis. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of mitochondrial small subunit spacers (mtSSU), large subunit nuclear rDNA (LSU), and internal transcribed spacers (ITS) sequence data, together with phenotypic data documented by detailed morphological and anatomical analyses, support the taxonomic affinity of the new taxa in Stictidaceae. Ancestral character state analysis did not resolve the ancestral nutritional status of Stictidaceae with confidence using Bayes traits, but a saprotrophic ancestor was indicated as most likely in a Bayesian binary Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling (MCMC) approach. Frequent switching in nutritional modes between lineages suggests that lifestyle transition played an important role in the evolution of this family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stictidaceae species have diverse lifestyles and are distributed worldwide. Recent studies resulted several new and interesting Stictidaceae species from China. In this study, we introduced a new species, Fitzroyomyces filiformis as well as a new host record of F. pandanicola from Yunnan Province, China, based on the evidence from morphological and phylogenetic characterisations. The phylogenetic analyses were estimated for maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses based on ITS, LSU, and mtSSU sequence data. In this study, we introduce a new species from Yunnan Province, China, Fitzroyomyces filiformis, phylogenetically having a sister relationship to F. hyaloseptisporus, a species from which it differs in ascus and ascospore size. Sapindus delavayi is reported as a new host of F. pandanicola. We also provided the updated synopsis for Fitzroyomyces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]