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Clonostachys (Bionectriaceae, Hypocreales) species are common soil-borne fungi that also occur as mycoparasites, or as endophytes, epiphytes, and saprotrophs in plants. The sexual morphs of Clonostachys spp. were placed in the genus Bionectria, which was further distinguished into six subgenera Astromata, Bionectria, Epiphloea, Myronectria, Uniparietina and Zebrinella. However, with the end of dual nomenclature, Clonostachys was recommended for conservation over Bionectria. Species of Clonostachys are typically characterised by penicillate, sporodochial, and, in many cases, dimorphic conidiophores (primary and secondary conidiophores). Primary conidiophores are mononematous, either verticillium-like or narrowly penicillate, and form heads of slimy conidial masses. Secondary conidiophores generally form imbricate conidia that can collapse to slimy masses that vary from white to pale orange, yellowish or green. In the present study, we investigated the species diversity within a collection of 453 strains of Clonostachys from the culture collection of the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Strains were analysed based on their morphological characters and DNA sequence of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), partial sequences for the 28S large subunit (LSU) nrDNA, partial RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1) and β-tubulin (TUB2) gene regions. Based on these results, Clonostachys covers the subgenera Astromata, Bionectria, Myronectria and Zebrinella while the genus Sesquicillium is resurrected to accommodate the subgenera Epiphloea and Uniparietina. New taxa include 28 new species and eight new combinations. Further studies are presently underway to generate full genome sequences of these taxa to study the evolution of mycoparasitism, and investigate their biocontrol abilities.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Antartica, Cladosporium austrolitorale from coastal sea sand. Australia, Austroboletus yourkae on soil, Crepidotus innuopurpureus on dead wood, Curvularia stenotaphri from roots and leaves of Stenotaphrum secundatum and Thecaphora stajsicii from capsules of Oxalis radicosa. Belgium, Paraxerochrysium coryli (incl. Paraxerochrysium gen. nov.) from Corylus avellana. Brazil, Calvatia nordestina on soil, Didymella tabebuiicola from leaf spots on Tabebuia aurea, Fusarium subflagellisporum from hypertrophied floral and vegetative branches of Mangifera indica and Microdochium maculosum from living leaves of Digitaria insularis. Canada, Cuphophyllus bondii fromagrassland. Croatia, Mollisia inferiseptata from a rotten Laurus nobilis trunk. Cyprus, Amanita exilis oncalcareoussoil. Czech Republic, Cytospora hippophaicola from wood of symptomatic Vaccinium corymbosum. Denmark, Lasiosphaeria deviata on pieces of wood and herbaceousdebris. Dominican Republic, Calocybella goethei among grass on a lawn. France (Corsica) , Inocybe corsica onwetground. France (French Guiana) , Trechispora patawaensis on decayed branch of unknown angiosperm tree and Trechispora subregularis on decayed log of unknown angiosperm tree. [...], P.R. Johnston thanks J. Sullivan (Lincoln University) for the habitat image of Kowai Bush, Duckchul Park (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research) for the DNA sequencing, and the New Zealand Department of Conservation for permission to collect the specimens; this research was supported through the Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Biota Portfolio with funding from the Science and Innovation Group of the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. V. Hubka was supported by the Czech Ministry of Health (grant number NU21-05-00681), and is grateful for the support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science – grant-in-aid for JSPS research fellow (grant no. 20F20772). K. Glässnerová was supported by the Charles University Grant Agency (grant No. GAUK 140520). J. Trovão and colleagues were financed by FEDERFundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 – Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-PTDC/ EPH-PAT/3345/2014. This work was carried out at the R&D Unit Centre for Functional Ecology – Science for People and the Planet (CFE), with reference UIDB/04004/2020, financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). J. Trovão was also supported by POCH – Programa Operacional Capital Humano (co-funding by the European Social Fund and national funding by MCTES), through a ‘FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia’ PhD research grant (SFRH/BD/132523/2017). D. Haelewaters acknowledges support from the Research Foundation – Flanders (Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship 1206620N). M. Loizides and colleagues are grateful to Y. Cherniavsky for contributing collections AB A12-058-1 and AB A12- 058-2, and Á. Kovács and B. Kiss for their help with molecular studies of these specimens. C. Zmuda is thanked for assisting with the collection of ladybird specimens infected with Hesperomyces parexochomi. A.V. Kachalkin and colleagues were supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant No. 19-74-10002). The study of A.M. Glushakova was carried out as part of the Scientific Project of the State Order of the Government of Russian Federation to Lomonosov Moscow State University No. 121040800174-6. S. Nanu acknowledges the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) for granting a research fellowship and is grateful to the Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife for giving permission to collect fungal samples. A. Bañares and colleagues thank L. Monje and A. Pueblas of the Department of Drawing and Scientific Photography at the University of Alcalá for their help in the digital preparation of the photographs, and J. Rejos, curator of the AH herbarium for his assistance with the specimens examined in the present study. The research of V. Antonín received institutional support for long-term conceptual development of research institutions provided by the Ministry of Culture (Moravian Museum, ref. MK000094862). The studies of E.F. Malysheva, V.F. Malysheva, O.V. Morozova, and S.V. Volobuev were carried out within the framework of a research project of the Komarov Botanical Institute RAS, St Petersburg, Russia (АААА-А18-118022090078-2) using equipment of its Core Facility Centre ‘Cell and Molecular Technologies in Plant Science’.The study of A.V. Alexandrova was carried out as part of the Scientific Project of the State Order of the Government of Russian Federation to Lomonosov Moscow State University No. 121032300081-7. The Kits van Waveren Foundation (Rijksherbariumfonds Dr E. Kits van Waveren, Leiden, Netherlands) contributed substantially to the costs of sequencing and travelling expenses for M.E. Noordeloos. The work of B. Dima was partly supported by the ÚNKP- 20-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund. The work of L. Nagy was supported by the ‘Momentum’ program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (contract No. LP2019- 13/2019 to L.G.N.). G.A. Kochkina and colleagues acknowledge N. Demidov for the background photograph, and N. Suzina for the SEM photomicrograph. The research of C.M. Visagie and W.J. Nel was supported by the National Research Foundation grant no 118924 and SFH170610239162. C. Gil-Durán acknowledges Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología, Conocimiento e Innovación, Gobierno de Chile, for grant ANID – Fondecyt de Postdoctorado 2021 – N° 3210135. R. Chávez and G. Levicán thank DICYT-USACH and acknowledges the grants INACH RG_03-14 and INACH RT_31-16 from the Chilean Antarctic Institute, respectively. S. Tiwari and A. Baghela would like to acknowledge R. Avchar and K. Balasubramanian from the Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra for helping with the termite collection. S. Tiwari is also thankful to the University Grants Commission, Delhi (India) for a junior research fellowship (827/(CSIR-UGC NET DEC.2017)). R. Lebeuf and I. Saar thank D. and H. Spencer for collecting and photographing the holotype of C. bondii, and R. Smith for photographing the habitat. A. Voitk is thanked for helping with the colour plate and review of the manuscript, and the Foray Newfoundland and Labrador for providing the paratype material. I. Saar was supported by the Estonian Research Council (grant PRG1170) and the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). M.P.S. Câmara acknowledges the ‘Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq’ for the research productivity fellowship, and financial support (Universal number 408724/2018-8). W.A.S. Vieira acknowledges the ‘Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento Pessoal de Ensino Superior – CAPES’ and the ‘Programa Nacional de Pós-Doutorado/CAPES – PNPD/CAPES’ for the postdoctoral fellowship. A.G.G. Amaral acknowledges CNPq, and A.F. Lima and I.G. Duarte acknowledge CAPES for the doctorate fellowships. F. Esteve-Raventós and colleagues were financially supported by FEDER/ Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades – Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spain)/ Project CGL2017-86540-P. The authors would like to thank L. Hugot and N. Suberbielle (Conservatoire Botanique National de Corse, Office de l’Environnement de la Corse, Corti) for their help. The research of E. Larsson is supported by The Swedish Taxonomy Initiative, SLU Artdatabanken, Uppsala. Financial support was provided to R.J. Ferreira by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and to I.G. Baseia, P.S.M. Lúcio and M.P. Martín by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) under CNPq-Universal 2016 (409960/2016-0) and CNPq-visiting researcher (407474/2013-7). J. Cabero and colleagues wish to acknowledge A. Rodríguez for his help to describe Genea zamorana, as well as H. Hernández for sharing information about the vegetation of the type locality. S. McMullan-Fisher and colleagues acknowledge K. Syme (assistance with illustrations), J. Kellermann (translations), M. Barrett (collection, images and sequences), T. Lohmeyer (collection and images) and N. Karunajeewa (for prompt accessioning). This research was supported through funding from Australian Biological Resources Study grant (TTC217-06) to the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. The research of M. Spetik and co-authors was supported by project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0 /16_017/0002334. N. Wangsawat and colleagues were partially supported by NRCT and the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. programme, grant number PHD/0218/2559. They are thankful to M. Kamsook for the photograph of the Phu Khiao Wildlife Sanctuary and P. Thamvithayakorn for phylogenetic illustrations. The study by N.T. Tran and colleagues was funded by Hort Innovation (Grant TU19000). They also thank the turf growers who supported their surveys and specimen collection. N. Matočec, I. Kušan, A. Pošta, Z. Tkalčec and A. Mešić thank the Croatian Science Foundation for their financial support under the project grant HRZZ-IP-2018-01-1736 (ForFungiDNA). A. Pošta thanks the Croatian Science Foundation for their support under the grant HRZZ-2018-09-7081. A. Morte is grateful to Fundación Séneca – Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia (20866/ PI/18) for financial support. The research of G. Akhmetova, G.M. Kovács, B. Dima and D.G. Knapp was supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary (NKFIH KH-130401 and K-139026), the ELTE Thematic Excellence Program 2020 supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (TKP2020-IKA-05) and the Stipendium Hungaricum Programme. The support of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Bolyai+ New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology to D.G. Knapp is highly appreciated. F.E. Guard and colleagues are grateful to the traditional owners, the Jirrbal and Warungu people, as well as L. and P. Hales, Reserve Managers, of the Yourka Bush Heritage Reserve. Their generosity, guidance, and the opportunity to explore the Bush Heritage Reserve on the Einasleigh Uplands in far north Queensland is greatly appreciated. The National Science Foundation (USA) provided funds (DBI#1828479) to the New York Botanical Garden for a scanning electron microscope used for imaging the spores. V. Papp was supported by the ÚNKP-21-5 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary. A.N. Miller thanks the WM Keck Center at the University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign for sequencing Lasiosphaeria deviata. J. Pawłowska acknowledges support form National Science Centre, Poland (grant Opus 13 no 2017/25/B/NZ8/00473). The research of T.S. Bulgakov was carried out as part of the State Research Task of the Subtropical Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Theme No. 0492-2021- 0007). K. Bensch (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Utrecht) is thanked for correcting the spelling of various Latin epithets.

We investigated the identity and genetic diversity of more than 100 isolates belonging to Phyllosticta (teleomorph Guignardia), with particular emphasis on Phyllosticta citricarpa and Guignardia mangiferae s.l. occurring on Citrus. Phyllosticta citricarpa is the causal agent of Citrus Black Spot and is subject to phytosanitary legislation in the EU. This species is frequently confused with a taxon generally referred to as G. mangiferae, the presumed teleomorph of P. capitalensis, which is a non-pathogenic endophyte, commonly isolated from citrus leaves and fruits and a wide range of other hosts. DNA sequence analysis of the nrDNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1, 5.8S nrDNA, ITS2) and partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1), actin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) genes resolved nine clades correlating to seven known, and two apparently undescribed species. Phyllosticta citribraziliensis is newly described as an endophytic species occurring on Citrus in Brazil. An epitype is designated for P. citricarpa from material newly collected in Australia, which is distinct from P. citriasiana, presently only known on C. maxima from Asia. Phyllosticta bifrenariae is newly described for a species causing leaf and bulb spots on Bifrenaria harrisoniae (Orchidaceae) in Brazil. It is morphologically distinct from P. capitalensis, which was originally described from Stanhopea (Orchidaceae) in Brazil; an epitype is designated here. Guignardia mangiferae, which was originally described from Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae) in India, is distinguished from the non-pathogenic endophyte, P. brazilianiae sp. nov., which is common on M. indica in Brazil. Furthermore, a combined phylogenetic tree revealed the P. capitalensis s.l. clade to be genetically distinct from the reference isolate of G. mangiferae. Several names are available for this clade, the oldest being P. capitalensis. These results suggest that endophytic, non-pathogenic isolates occurring on a wide host range would be more correctly referred to as P. capitalensis. However, more genes need to be analysed to fully resolve the morphological variation still observed within this clade.

Three species of Mycosphaerella, namely M. eumusae, M. fijiensis, and M. musicola are involved in the Sigatoka disease complex of bananas. Besides these three primary pathogens, several additional species of Mycosphaerella or their anamorphs have been described from Musa. However, very little is known about these taxa, and for the majority of these species no culture or DNA is available for study. In the present study, we collected a global set of Mycosphaerella strains from banana, and compared them by means of morphology and a multi-gene nucleotide sequence data set. The phylogeny inferred from the ITS region and the combined data set containing partial gene sequences of the actin gene, the small subunit mitochondrial ribosomal DNA and the histone H3 gene revealed a rich diversity of Mycosphaerella species on Musa. Integration of morphological and molecular data sets confirmed more than 20 species of Mycosphaerella (incl. anamorphs) to occur on banana. This study reconfirmed the previously described presence of Cercospora apii, M. citri and M. thailandica, and also identified Mycosphaerella communis, M. lateralis and Passalora loranthi on this host. Moreover, eight new species identified from Musa are described, namely Dissoconium musae, Mycosphaerella mozambica, Pseudocercospora assamensis, P. indonesiana, P. Iongispora, Stenella musae, S. musicola, and S. queenslandica. © 2008 Nationaal Herbarium Nederland.

Pseudocercospora sophoricola M. Bakhshi, Arzanlou, Babai-ahari & Crous, sp. nov. (Fig. 7) MycoBank MB 809998 Type:— IRAN. Zanjan Province: Tarom, Guilankeshe, on Sophora alopecuroides L. (Fabaceae), October 2011, M. Bakhshi (holotype IRAN 16463 F, culture ex-type CCTU 1037 = CBS 136020). Description in planta:— Leaf spots distinct, amphigenous, circular to subcircular, 1–6 mm diam., pale brown in centre, with raised, dark brown to black border. Mycelium internal. Caespituli predominantly hypophyllous, dark brown on leaves. Stromata moderately developed, substomatal to intraepidermal, semi-immersed, globular, 10–30 μm diam. Conidiophores medium brown, arranged in moderately dense fascicles, smooth, unbranched, straight, doliiform or lageniform to short cylindrical, 0–1-septate, (8–)13–16(–22) × (3–)4.5–5(–6) μm, predominantly reduced to conidiogenous cells, apex subtruncate. Conidiogenous cells medium brown, smooth, proliferating sympodially, tapering to flat-tipped apical loci, loci unthickened to slightly thickened and somewhat darkened, 1–3 μm diam. Conidia solitary, medium to dark brown, guttulate, thick-walled, sometimes constricted at septa, subcylindrical to obclavate, apex obtuse to sub obtuse, base obconically truncate, straight to gently curved, conspicuously 1–8-septate, (20–)50–70(–110) × (2.5–)3.5–4(–5) μm; hila unthickened to slightly thickened and somewhat darkened and refractive, 1–2.5 μm diam. Cultural characteristics:— Colonies on MEA slow growing, reaching 15 mm diam. after 20 days at 25 ºC in the dark; surface velvety, smooth to folded, erumpent with sparse aerial mycelium and even margins. Dark brown to black on the surface, black underneath. Habitat/Distribution:— Known to inhabit Sophora alopecuroides, Zanjan Province, Iran. Etymology:— Named after the host genus from which it was collected, Sophora. Other material examined:— IRAN. Zanjan Province: Tarom, Guilankeshe, on Sophora alopecuroides, October 2011, M . Bakhshi (CCTU 1037.2). Notes:— Pseudocercospora sophoricola must be regarded as a new species based on its distinct phylogenetic position (Fig. 2). In the individual gene trees, it is distinguished in the ITS (sister taxon to P. ocimi-basilici), ACT (sister taxon to P. udagawana) and TEF1-α (sister taxon to P. udagawana) phylogenies. In the combined tree (Fig. 2), it is a sister taxon to P. udagawana. Pseudocercospora sophoricola is morphologically well distinguished from P. sophorae (Guo & Liu 1991) in having narrower stromata, wider conidiophores which are mostly reduced to conidiogenous cells, slightly thickened and somewhat darkened conidiogenous loci and medium to dark brown, somewhat wider and longer, distinctly septate conidia. Furthermore, P. sophorae forms in vivo superficial hyphae with solitary conidiophores. This is the first species of the genus Pseudocercospora described from Sophora alopecuroides., Published as part of Bakhshi, Mounes, Arzanlou, Mahdi, Babai-Ahari, Asadollah, Groenewald, Johannes Z. & Crous, Pedro W., 2014, Multi-gene analysis of Pseudocercospora spp. from Iran, pp. 245-264 in Phytotaxa 184 (5) on page 256, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.184.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5146800, {"references":["Guo, Y. & Liu, X. (1991) Studies on the genus Pseudocercospora in China V. Mycosystema 4: 99 - 118."]}

Using a global set of isolates and a phylogenetic approach employing DNA sequence data from five genes (β-tubulin, histone H3, internal transcribed spacer region, 28S large subunit region and translation elongation factor 1-α), the taxonomic status of the genus Gliocladiopsis (Glionectria) (Hypocreales, Nectriaceae) was re-evaluated. Gliocladiopsis sagariensis is reinstated as type species for the genus, which proved to be distinct from its former synonym, G. tenuis. The purported teleomorph state of G. tenuis, Glionectria tenuis, is shown to be distinct based on morphological comparisons supported by phylogenetic inference, and is provided with a new name, Gliocladiopsis pseudotenuis. A further four species, mostly isolated from soil, are newly described, namely G. curvata (New Zealand, Ecuador and Indonesia), G. elghollii (USA), G. indonesiensis (Indonesia) and G. mexicana (Mexico). Although species of Gliocladiopsis are frequently isolated from roots of diseased plants or plant litter in soil, little is presently known of their ecology, or potential role as plant pathogens.

The EU 7th Framework Program provided funds for Quarantine Barcoding of Life (QBOL) to develop a quick, reliable and accurate DNA barcode-based diagnostic tool for selected species on the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) A1/A2 quarantine lists. Seven nuclear genomic loci were evaluated to determine those best suited for identifying species of Mycosphaerella and/or its associated anamorphs. These genes included β-tubulin (Btub), internal transcribed spacer regions of the nrDNA operon (ITS), 28S nrDNA (LSU), Actin (Act), Calmodulin (Cal), Translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1α) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2). Loci were tested on their Kimura-2-parameter-based inter- and intraspecific variation, PCR amplification success rate and ability to distinguish between quarantine species and closely related taxa. Results showed that none of these loci was solely suited as a reliable barcoding locus for the tested fungi. A combination of a primary and secondary barcoding locus was found to compensate for individual weaknesses and provide reliable identification. A combination of ITS with either EF-1α or Btub was reliable as barcoding loci for EPPO A1/A2-listed Mycosphaerella species. Furthermore, Lecanosticta acicola was shown to represent a species complex, revealing two novel species described here, namely L. brevispora sp. nov. on Pinus sp. from Mexico and L. guatemalensis sp. nov. on Pinus oocarpa from Guatemala. Epitypes were also designated for L. acicola and L. longispora to resolve the genetic application of these names.