Bionectriaceae Samuels & Rossman, Stud. Mycol. 42: 15 (1999)

MycoBank number: MB 82088; Index Fungorum number: IF 82088; Facesoffungi number: FoF01367; 579 species.

Herbicolous, corticolous, lichenicolous or fungicolous, some are coprophilous, most occur in terrestrial or freshwater habitats, less common in marine habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata superficial on the substratum or embedded in a weakly or well-developed erumpent stroma, solitary or densely aggregated, crowded, perithecial, rarely cleistothecial, if perithecial, globose, subglobose to pyriform, if cleistothecial, globose, white, yellow, orange, reddish-brown, greenish or purple to violet, without changing colour in KOH or lactic acid, smooth to rough, or warted, ostiolate or lacking ostioles. Periphyses present or absent. Peridium composed of 1–3 layers. Asci (2–)8- spored, unitunicate, clavate, saccate, cylindrical, sessile or short pedicellate, rarely evanescent, apex simple or with an inconspicuous or distinct, J-, apical ring. Ascospores uniseriate, biseriate, multi- seriate or irregular, hyaline, aseptate to multi-septate, sometimes muriform, globose, fusiform, ellipsoid or broadly ellipsoid, smooth-walled, spinulose to tuberculate or striate. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous or less commonly ceolomycetous, acremonium-, gliocladium-like, gyrostroma-like or penicillium-like, sometimes conidia produced on hyphae. Conidiophores dimorphic or monomorphic, mostly sporodochial or synnematous, hyaline, subhyaline to brown or blackish brown, smooth to finely echinulate-walled. Conidiogenous cells phialidic. Phialides cylindrical to flask-shaped. Conidia unicellular to multi-septate, ellipsoidal, fusiform to subfusiform, sometimes with papillate or truncate ends, hyaline to greenish hyaline or olivaceous grey, smooth or striate- walled. Chlamydospores present or absent (adapted from Rossman et al. 1999).

Type genus – Clonostachys Corda

Notes – Rossman et al. (1999) introduced Bionectriaceae to accommodate 26 genera including five cleistothecial genera. Four cleistothecial genera were accepted in the family based on phylogenetic analysis of the LSU gene by Rossman et al. (2001). Rossman et al. (2001) reported that Bionectriaceae is monophyletic within Hypocreales, by including those genera and related asexual morphs. Maharachchikumbura et al. (2015, 2016b) listed 39 genera in the family. Wijayawardene et al. (2018a) accepted Didymostilbe and Virgatospora in Stachybotryaceae. Stromatocrea and Vesicladiella, previously included in Bionectriaceae by Maharachchikumbura et al. (2015, 2016b), were not considered by Wijayawardene et al. (2018a). Wijayawardene et al. (2018) accepted 39 genera in the family including Bullanockia, Fusariella, Paracylindrocarpon and Synnemellisia. Spicellum was listed under Bionectriaceae in Wijayawardene et al. (2018). However, Spicellum was synonymized under Trichothecium (Myrotheciomycetaceae, Hypocreales) based on morphology and DNA sequence data by Summerbell et al. (2011). LSU is commonly used and the available gene for phylogenetic analysis of Bionectriaceae. However, few additional sequence data are available for the family except for well-studied genera such as Geosmithia and Clonostachys (Voglmayr & Jaklitsch 2019). Many genera need to be recollected and sequenced and their placement in, or exclusion from Bionectriaceae or synonymies confirmed.

Genera