Sarocladiaceae Lombard, Persoonia 41: 343 (2018)

MycoBank number: MB 828245; Index Fungorum number: IF 828245; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06265; 25 species.

Saprobic on dried stems and branches of monocotyledons and dicotyledons, occasionally hemibiotrophic or necrotrophic, soil associated fungi, and clinical trial samples, and clinical wash fluid. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Colonies effuse on the natural substrate, scattered, hairy, dark brown, septate. Vegetative hyphae hyaline, branched, partly immersed, smooth- and thin-walled, branched, composed of pale brown, septate hyphae. Conidiophores macronematous, synnematous, tree-like, dark brown, parallel and unbranched in the stipe, gregarious or scattered, erect, stripes straight or slightly flexuous, constricted at septa, tapering towards the apex, irregularly branched, cylindrical, smooth. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, integrated, terminal, cylindrical, straight to slightly curved, slightly narrowing at apex, acropetally proliferating, hyaline to pale brown, verrucose. Conidia forming slimy heads on the phialides or produced in chains, unicellular, fusiform to broad fusiform, hyaline, aseptate, thick-walled, verrucose, bud scars or disjunctions present at the site of attachment, guttulate (adapted from Crous et al. 2018b).

Type genusSarocladium Gams & D. Hawksw.

Notes – Sarocladiaceae was introduced by Crous et al. (2018b) to accommodate the distinctive lineage of Parasarocladium and Sarocladium as the generic type. Sarocladium was previously placed in genera incertae sedis of Hypocreales as it is formed a phylogenetic affinity with species of Acremonium (Summerbell et al. 2011, Giraldo et al. 2015, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2015b, 2016b, Wijayawardene et al. 2017b). The phylogenetic distinction of Acremonium and Sarocladium is confirmed since the type species of Acremonium (A. alternatum) formed a well-supported lineage in Bionectriaceae (Crous et al. 2018b; Fig. 15 in this study). The phylogenetic placement of Sarocladium and related species was provided, with Parasarocladium, a second genus for the Acremonium radiatum complex (Summerbell et al. 2018).

A phylogenetic analysis of the LSU sequence alignment showed that Sarocladiaceae shares a close relationship with Bionectriaceae (Crous et al. 2018b). In our multilocus phylogenetic analysis of the combined LSU, ITS, cmdA, rpb2, tef1 and tub2 sequence data of Hypocreales, Sarocladiaceae formed a close relationship with Flammocladiellaceae as basal lineage of Hypocreales. Sarocladiaceae comprise two genera, Parasarocladium and Sarocladium.