Kaseifertia  cubense  (R.F.   Casta~neda   &   G.R.W.   Arnold) R´eblov´a,  Hern.-Restr.  &  J.  Fourn.

MycoBank number: MB 832925; Index Fungorum number: IF 832925; Facesoffungi number: FoF14540

Basionym – Trichocladium  cubense  R.F.  Casta~neda  &  G.R.W. Arnold [as “cubensis”], Revta Jardín bot. Nac., Univ. Habana 6: 53. 1985.

Synonym – Bactrodesmium cubense (R.F. Casta~neda & G.R.W. Arnold) Zucconi & Lunghini, Mycotaxon 63: 324. 1997.

Description – For description and illustration, refer to Castaneda-Ruiz & Arnold (1985) and Zucconi & Lunghini (1997).

Habitat and distribution – Kaseifertia cubense occurs on fallen leaves of Coccoloba uviferae and leaf litter and decaying wood of Quercus ilex. The species is known in Middle America in Cuba and in Europe in Italy (Casta~neda-Ruiz & Arnold 1985, Zucconi & Lunghini 1997).

Notes – The Blastn searches (GenBank accessed 23/10/2019) for possible relatives of a non-type strain of B. cubense CBS 680.96 (Zucconi & Lunghini 1997) using ITS, LSU, SSU and tef1-α sequences always showed this species nested in the Pleosporales but distantly related to all its members. Because of the lack of close relatives and new data, we follow the results of a phylogenetic analysis inferred from a combined dataset of ribosomal and protein-coding loci; B. cubense was resolved as a member of the suborder Massarineae and positioned on a separate branch as sister to the Morosphaeriaceae (Tanaka et al. 2015, fig. 1). Therefore, a new bactrodesmium-like genus Kaseifertia is introduced for B. cubense and a new combination is proposed.

In the protologue of K. cubense, Casta~neda-Ruiz & Arnold (1985) described the species with effuse colonies on fallen leaves of Coccoloba uviferae in Cuba, while Zucconi & Lunghini (1997), who studied K. cubense on leaf litter of Quercus ilex and decaying wood in Italy, stated that the fungus formed sporodochia. Zucconi & Lunghini (1997) examined the type of K. cubense and concluded that the collections from Italy match the protologue in all other respects and that specimens from Cuba and Italy are conspecific.

Fig. 1. Combined phylogeny using ITS, LSU SSU, rpb2 and tef1-α of selected members of four orders of the Hypocreomycetidae. Species names given in bold are taxonomic novelties, T and ET indicates ex-type strains. An asterisk (*) indicates branches with ML BS = 100 %, PP values = 1.0. Branch support of nodes 70 % ML BS and 0.90 PP is indicated above or below branches.