Morphophylogenetic evidence reveals four new fungal species within Tetraplosphaeriaceae (Pleosporales, Ascomycota) from tropical and subtropical forest in China

Abstract

Tetraplosphaeriaceae (Pleosporales, Ascomycota) is a family with many saprobes recorded from various hosts, especially bamboo and grasses. During a taxonomic investigation of microfungi in tropical and subtropical forest regions of Guizhou, Hainan and Yunnan provinces, China, several plant samples were collected and examined for fungi. Four newly discovered species are described based on morphology and evolutionary relationships with their allies inferred from phylogenetic analyses derived from a combined dataset of LSU, ITS, SSU, and tub2 DNA sequence data. Detailed illustrations, descriptions and taxonomic notes are provided for each species. The four new species of Tetraplosphaeriaceae reported herein are Polyplosphaeria guizhouensis, Polyplosphaeria hainanensis, Pseudotetraploa yunnanensis, and Tetraploa hainanensis. A checklist of Tetraplosphaeriaceae species with available details on their ecology is also provided.