Integrating Different Lines of Evidence to Establish a Novel Ascomycete Genus and Family (Anastomitrabeculia, Anastomitrabeculiaceae) in Pleosporales.

Chitrabhanu S Bhunjun,Itthayakorn Promputtha,Chayanard Phukhamsakda,Rajesh Jeewon,Kevin D Hyde

doi:10.3390/jof7020094

Abstract

A novel genus, Anastomitrabeculia, is introduced herein for a distinct species, Anastomitrabeculia didymospora, collected as a saprobe on dead bamboo culms from a freshwater stream in Thailand. Anastomitrabeculia is distinct in its trabeculate pseudoparaphyses and ascospores with longitudinally striate wall ornamentation. A new family, Anastomitrabeculiaceae, is introduced to accommodate Anastomitrabeculia. Anastomitrabeculiaceae forms an independent lineage basal to Halojulellaceae in Pleosporales and it is closely related to Neohendersoniaceae based on phylogenetic analyses of a combined LSU, SSU and TEF1α dataset. In addition, divergence time estimates provide further support for the establishment of Anastomitrabeculiaceae. The family diverged around 84 million years ago (MYA) during the Cretaceous period, which supports the establishment of the new family. The crown and stem age of Anastomitrabeculiaceae was also compared to morphologically similar pleosporalean families.

Highlights

Pleosporales is the largest order within Dothideomycetes (Ascomycota) [1]
The topology of the phylogenetic tree based on the large subunit 28S rRNA gene (LSU) gene was generally congruent with the overall topology of the tree based on the combined dataset
The introduction of new taxa, even at the family level, is not on MEA with white aerial mycelium, dark brown at the centre and paler towards the edge surprising, considering that about of fungi remain unknown to science despite ca

Summary

Introduction

Pleosporales is the largest order within Dothideomycetes (Ascomycota) [1]. The taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of families and genera within this order are well documented [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Pleosporales comprises two suborders, Massarineae and Pleosporineae [1]. Pleosporineae includes economically important plant pathogens and Massarineae includes mainly saprobes from terrestrial or aquatic environments [1,3]. 174 genera and accepted 26 families in Pleosporales. The suborder Massarineae was resurrected to accommodate five families, the Lentitheciaceae, Massarinaceae, Montagnulaceae (Didymosphaeriaceae), Morosphaeriaceae and Trematosphaeriaceae [1]. Hyde et al [2] correlated morphology with phylogenetic evidence and accepted 41 families in this order

Methods

Results

Conclusion