Generic concepts and correlations in ascomycetes based on molecular and morphological data: Lecythothecium duriligni gen. et sp. nov. with a Sporidesmium anamorph, and Ascolacicola austriaca sp. nov

A new species in the new monotypic genus Lecythothecium, having a Sporidesmium anamorph, and the new species Ascolacicola austriaca are described, illustrated with line drawings and photographs, and classified using a combination of morphology and sequence data. A new chloridium-like synanamorph of Umbrinosphaeria caesariata is reported. To classify the two new species, other phenotypically similar perithecial ascomycete genera, viz. Ascotaiwania, Coniobrevicolla, Crassochaeta, Herbampulla, Savoryella and Umbrinosphaeria, were compared morphologically and for the large nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (LSU rDNA). Despite the basic similarity in regard to perithecia, asci, apical annulus and ascospores, the classification of the two new species was problematic in that each possessed some phenotypic characters of several genera but could not be easily placed in any. Parsimony and distance analyses of LSU rDNA sequences of the fungi mentioned and representative taxa of seven ascomycetous orders were performed. The phylogeny showed Lecythothedum duriligni with a Sporidesmium anamorph to have affinity with the Chaetosphaeriaceae (98–100%). Umbrinosphaeria caesariata having Sporidesmium and chloridium-like synanamorphs also nested with high bootstrap value (98–100%) in the Chaetosphaeriaceae. The affinity of Ascolacicola austriaca lies with the Annulatascaceae/Trichosphaeriaceae in our phylogeny. The taxonomic and phylogenetic value of the massive, wedge-shaped apical annulus that characterizes the Annulatascaceae but that is also present in other genera, including Ascotaiwania, Lecythothecium, Crassochaeta, Herbampulla and Umbrinosphaeria, was tested in our phylogeny. The apical ring did not unite otherwise phenotypically diverse fungi in a clade, as is often the case with taxa established on the basis of a single character. The Annulatascaceae was revealed to be polyphyletic.