Neodictyocheirosporaceae W.H. Tian, K.D. Hyde & Maharachch., in Tian, Liu, Jin, Chen, Zhou, Wu, Su, Guo, Wanasinghe, Hyde, Liu & Maharachchikumbura, Mycosphere 15(1): 1832 (2024)

Index Fungorum number: IF 851879; MycoBank number: MB 851879; Facesoffungi number: FoF16266

Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies sporodochia, punctiform, superficial, and scattered. Conidiophore present or reduced to conidiogenous cell, micronematous, semi-macronematous to macronematous, mononematous or synnematous, simple or branched, pale brown to dark brown, smooth-walled. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, integrated, terminal, sometimes flat at the base, smooth, and brown. Conidia acrogenous, holoblastic, solitary, cheiroid, oval to ellipsoid or irregular-shaped, complanate, pale brown to dark brown, conidial rows unicellular to multiseptated, rows not separating, euseptate or distoseptate, smooth-walled, smooth, with or without appendages; appendages when present subglobose, hyaline, gelatinous, guttulate. Sexual morph: Undetermined.

Type genus – Neodictyocheirospora W.H. Tian, K.D. Hyde & Maharachch.

Notes – According to phylogenetic analysis, our two collections (HKAS 131277 and HKAS 131278) constitute a distinct clade, positioned as a sister group to Drepanopezizaceae and Heterosphaeriaceae. However, they differ significantly in their morphologies. The conidia of the Drepanopezizaceae are 0–1-septate, variously-shaped, and rarely staurosporous (Johnston et al. 2019), and Heterosphaeriaceae are hyaline, long-fusiform to filiform or lunate and 2–3-septate (Phutthacharoen et al. 2021). Neodictyocheirosporaceae (Leotiomycetes) shares similarities with the family Dictyosporiaceae in Dothideomycetes in having superficial, sporodochial, punctiform colonies; acrogenous, holoblastic, cheiroid, oval to ellipsoid or irregular-shaped, brown, and rows of unicellular to multiseptate conidia (Boonmee et al. 2016). Despite these resemblances, it is crucial to note that they belong to different classes. Therefore, considering both morphology and phylogeny, we propose introducing a new family, Neodictyocheirosporaceae, within the order Helotiales (Leotiomycetes).

Figure 1 – Phylogram of the best ML tree based on a combined dataset (ITS, LSU) of Helotiales. The scale bar indicates 0.07 changes. The tree is rooted with Xylaria hypoxylon (CBS 126417) (Xylariaceae, Xylariales). The best ML tree with a final likelihood value of -21822.139 is presented. The alignment dataset comprises 76 taxa with 1430 sites, including 853 distinct patterns, 172 singleton sites, and 682 constant sites. Ultrafast bootstrap values for the maximum likelihood analysis equal to or greater than 95% and posterior probability for Bayesian analysis equal to or greater than 0.95 are indicated at the nodes. Novel isolates are shown in red. Isolates from type materials are in bold.

Genera