Hypocrea/Trichodermaspecies with pachybasium-like conidiophores: teleomorphs for T. minutisporumand T. polysporumand their newly discovered relatives

We describe or redescribe species of Hypocrea/Trichoderma(Ascomycetes, Hypocreales) having hyaline ascospores and pachybasium-like conidiophores. Teleomorphs are reported for Trichoderma minutisporum(Hypocrea minutisporasp. nov.) and T. polysporum(H. pachybasioides). Hypocrea pilulifera/T. piluliferumis redescribed. Trichoderma croceumis synonymized with T. polysporum.The new species H. parapilulifera, H. stellataand H. lacuwombatensisare described. All of these species fall within the morphological concept of Trichodermasect. Pachybasiumand within the phylogenetic group pachybasium B5 of Kullnig-Gradinger et al (2002). Parsimony analysis of nucleotide sequences from three unlinked loci—ITS1 and 2, endochitinase (ech42) and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1)—detects two distinct phylogenetic lineages within the group pachybasium B5. One comprises H. pachybasioides/T. polysporum, H. pilulifera/T. piluliferum, H. parapiluliferaand H. stellata; this group, the “polysporum” lineage, is characterized by having conidia that are white in mass and is the only lineage within Hypocreacharacterized by such conidia. The second group includes the green conidial T. minutisporumand H. lacuwombatensis.The partition homogeneity test reveals significant recombination within the “polysporum” lineage but not within the “minutisporum” lineage.