Unveiling fungi associated with Castanopsis woody litter in Yunnan Province, China: Insights into Pleosporales (Dothideomycetes) species.

During a survey of the diversity of lignicolous fungi in Yunnan Province, China, we collected and identified five microfungi species from dead woody litters of Castanopsis trees in terrestrial habitats. Through both morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analyses of multi-gene sequences, we identified two taxa as new species and three collections as new host records within Pleosporales. Pseudolophiostomalincangense sp. nov. is introduced as a sexual morph in Lophiostomataceae, Pleopunctumbaoshanense sp. nov. is introduced as a hyphomycetous fungi in Phaeoseptaceae, and Paraphomaaquatica as a first report of sexual morph in Paraphoma . In addition, Occultibambusakunmingensis and Pleopunctummegalosporum were isolated for the first time from the dead twigs of Castanopsisdelavayi and C.calathiformis , respectively. Comprehensive morphological descriptions, illustrations, and phylogenetic analysis results are provided for the above-mentioned species.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Guang-Cong Ren, Saowaluck Tibpromma, Kai-Xuan Dong, Chen-Xi Gao, Chao-Shan Zhang, Samantha C. Karunarathna, Abdallah M. Elgorban, Heng Gui.)