Resolving the phylogenetic placement of Porobeltraniella and allied genera in the Beltraniaceae

Abstract

The circumscription of Beltraniaceae has thus far been based on the unique morphological characters of its genera, although these assumptions have never been tested phylogenetically because of a lack of DNA sequence data. The Indian Western Ghats is rich with diverse strains of Beltrania and similar genera, and therefore an attempt was made to re-collect as many species as possible, to study their taxonomy, and to resolve their phylogeny based on LSU and ITS nrDNA sequences. This study provides the first phylogenetic placement of genera Beltraniella, Porobeltraniella, Pseudobeltrania and Hemibeltrania in the Beltraniaceae based on fresh specimens, type studies and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Furthermore, Subramaniomyces appears to be phylogenetically related to beltranioid genera, and is therefore included in Beltraniaceae. However, the phylogenies of the hyphomycete genus Parapleurotheciopsis and the perithecial genus Pidoplitchkoviella appear to change with data selection and phylogenetic analytical method used, and remain unresolved.