Neodactylariales, Neodactylariaceae (Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota): New order and family, with a new species from China

Abstract

During a mycological survey of aquatic hyphomycetes on submerged decaying leaves in southwest China, a distinct new fungus was collected. The collection was cultured and sequenced and a BLAST search of its ITS and LSU sequence against data in GenBank revealed a dothideomycetous affiliation, with the closest related taxa in the genus Neodactylaria. Phylogenetic analyses of a multigene matrix containing sequences from four genes (LSU, SSU, rpb2, and tef1), representing broad groups of Dothideomycetes, revealed its placement within Dothideomycetes, but without a supported familial or ordinal affiliation. Based on further phylogenetic analyses and morphological investigations, the new fungus is described here as a new species of Neodactylaria, N. simaoensis sp. nov., and placed in a new family Neodactylariaceae fam. nov. and a new order Neodactylariales ord. nov.