Eight novel cave fungi in Thailand's Satun Geopark

Bionectriaceae: a poorly known family of hypocrealean fungi with major commercial potential

The ascomycete family Bionectriaceae (Hypocreales) contains cosmopolitan species distributed throughout a broad range of environments, mainly occurring in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, with a less frequent occurrence in marine habitats. Members of the family are commonly used in industrial, pharmaceutical, and commercial applications. Applications utilise biodegraders and biocontrol agents, while certain taxa serve as a rich source of bioactive secondary metabolites. In recent years, several studies have proposed new taxonomic concepts within Bionectriaceae based on multi-gene phylogenetic inference. However, the status of several genera remains controversial or unclear, and many need to be re-collected and subjected to molecular analysis. The present study aims to improve our understanding of Bionectriaceae by re-examining CBS culture collection strains preliminarily identified as taxa within this family. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses are based on alignments of the nuclear ribosomal subunits consisting of the internal transcribed spacer regions and intervening 5.8S nrDNA (ITS), as well as partial sequences for the 28S large subunit (LSU) nrDNA. Additional regions within protein-encoding genes were used, including the DNA-directed RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1) regions. The sequences generated were used to reconstruct a phylogenetic backbone of the family Bionectriaceae, and to delineate lineages and generic boundaries within it. Based on these results, seven new genera, 35 new species, and nine new combinations are proposed. A robustly supported phylogenetic framework is provided for Bionectriaceae, resolving 352 species and 50 well-supported genera. This study provides a solid foundation for more in-depth future studies on taxa in the family. Taxonomic novelties: New genera: Clavatomyces Lin Zhao & Crous, Collarimyces Lin Zhao & Crous, Vitreipilata Lin Zhao & Crous, Parageonectria Lin Zhao & Crous, Physaromyces Lin Zhao & Crous, Smyrniomyces Lin Zhao & Crous, Urticomyces Lin Zhao & Crous. New species: Acremonium paramultiramosum Lin Zhao & Crous, Clavatomyces prestoeae Lin Zhao & Crous, Clonostachys novocaledonica Lin Zhao & Crous, Clonostachys tropica Lin Zhao & Crous, Collarimyces guttiformis Lin Zhao & Crous, Emericellopsis mexicana Lin Zhao & Crous, Emericellopsis proliferata Lin Zhao & Crous, Emericellopsis soli Lin Zhao & Crous, Fusariella triangulispora Lin Zhao & Crous, Geonectria alni Lin Zhao & Crous, Geonectria quercus Lin Zhao & Crous, Geosmithia cupressina V. Meshram et al., Geosmithia magnispora Lin Zhao & Crous, Gliomastix olivacea Lin Zhao & Crous, Hydropisphaera armeniaca Lin Zhao & Crous, Hydropisphaera gossypina Lin Zhao & Crous, Hydropisphaera martinicensis Lin Zhao & Crous, Hydropisphaera solani Lin Zhao, L.W. Hou & Crous, Lasionectria chondroidea Lin Zhao & Crous, Lasionectria phormii Lin Zhao, L.W. Hou & Crous, Lasionectriopsis stereicola Lin Zhao & Crous, Nectriopsis cribrariae Lin Zhao & Crous, Nectriopsis floccosa Lin Zhao & Crous, Ovicillium theobromae Lin Zhao & Crous, Paracylindrocarpon jigongshanense Lin Zhao & Crous, Paracylindrocarpon spartinae Lin Zhao & Crous, Parageonectria arachispora Lin Zhao & Crous, Paragliomastix venezuelana Lin Zhao & Crous, Physaromyces sterilis Lin Zhao & Crous, Protocreopsis chlamydospora Lin Zhao & Crous, Protocreopsis gallica Lin Zhao & Crous, Roumegueriella echinulata Lin Zhao & Crous, Sesquicillium pouteriae Lin Zhao & Crous, Sesquicillium thailandense Lin Zhao & Crous, Smyrniomyces setaceus Lin Zhao & P.W. Crous. New combinations: Clavatomyces korfii (Lechat & J. Fourn.) Lin Zhao & Crous, Vitreipilata cirsii (Lechat & J. Fourn) Lin Zhao & Crous, Protocreopsis loweniae (Flakus et al.) Lin Zhao & Crous, Protocreopsis vulpina (Cooke) Lin Zhao & Crous, Proxiovicillium capsici (S.Q. Tong & Y.J. Wu) Lin Zhao & Crous, Sesquicillium shanghaiense (Zhang et al.) Lin Zhao & Crous, Urticomyces pseudoarenulus (Lechat & J. Fourn) Lin Zhao & Crous, Verruciconidia guizhouensis (S.Q. Tong & Y.J. Wu) Lin Zhao & Crous, Verruciconidia saulensis (Lechat & J. Fourn.) Lin Zhao & Crous. New synonyms: Clonostachys aquatica D.F. Bao et al., Emericellopsis microspora Backus & Orpurt. Citation: Zhao L, Groenewald JZ, Hou LW, Summerbell RC, Crous PW (2025). Bionectriaceae: a poorly known family of hypocrealean fungi with major commercial potential. Studies in Mycology 111: 115-198. doi: 10.3114/sim.2025.111.04.

Morphology and phylogeny of two new species within Cordycipitaceae (Hypocreales) from China

Simplicillium and Leptobacillium, sister genera in the family Cordycipitaceae, exhibit a broad range of hosts or substrates. The identification of two novel species, from Simplicillium and Leptobacillium, was achieved by analysing morphological characteristics and phylogenetic data obtained from six molecular markers (ITS, nrSSU, nrLSU, tef-1α, rpb1 and rpb2). The two recently documented species are S.puwenense and L.longiphialidum. Morphologically, S.puwenense possessed slender solitary rod-shaped or columnar phialides with elliptical oval or cylindrical conidia forming small spherical heads at the apex of phialides. On the other hand, L.longiphialidum had solitary columnar phialides with elliptic or subspherical apical conidia while other conidia were narrow columnar or fusiform in shape. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that S.puwenense formed an independent branch as a sister species to S.formicae, whereas L.longiphialidum clustered with L.marksiae exhibiting stable topological structure. The Bayesian inference posterior probability and the maximum likelihood bootstrap-ratio provided robust statistical evidence, indicating the presence of two novel species within the genera of Simplicillium and Leptobacillium. The present study contributes to the discovery of species diversity in Simplicillium and Leptobacillium, while also providing a taxonomic foundation for their rational development and sustainable utilisation.

Morphology and multi-gene phylogeny reveal three new species of Clonostachys and two combinations of Sesquicillium (Bionectriaceae, Hypocreales) from Xizang, China

Clonostachys and Sesquicillium are genera in Bionectriaceae, and known in sexual perithecial ascomata and hyphomycetous asexual morphs. In their asexual morph, both genera share similar morphology in conidiophores and conidiogenous cell characteristics but differ in the development of conidiophores. The members of Clonostachys are distributed worldwide with the majority occurring in the tropics and the species are commonly reported as soil-borne fungi but also reported as endophytes, epiphytes, and saprotrophs. During a microfungi survey in Xizang, China, six collections of fresh and healthy Ageratinaadenophora and Houttuyniacordata leaves were obtained. The taxonomy of these collections was investigated through a combination of morphological analysis and multigene phylogenetic analysis using Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The newly generated sequences were clustered within Clonostachys and Sesquicillium, showing hyphomycetes asexual morph. The results revealed three new Clonostachys species viz, Clonostachyslinzhiensis, C.motuoensis, and C.yadongensis. This research sheds light on the overlooked fungal diversity in Xizang, China, expanding the known fungal biodiversity in the region. Additionally, two new combinations, Sesquicilliumaquaticum and S.shanghaiense for C.aquatica and C.shanghaiensis, and one synonymy, C.viticola for C.swietenia are established, respectively.

A New Genus of the Microascaceae (Ascomycota) Family from a Hypersaline Lagoon in Spain and the Delimitation of the Genus Wardomyces

The Saladas de Sástago-Bujaraloz is an endorheic and arheic complex of lagoons located in the Ebro Basin and protected by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Due to the semi-arid climate of the region and the high salinity of their waters, these lagoons constitute an extreme environment. We surveyed the biodiversity of salt-tolerant and halophilic fungi residents of the Laguna de Pito, a lagoon belonging to this complex. Therefore, we collected several samples of water, sediments, and soil of the periphery. Throughout the study, we isolated 21 fungal species, including a strain morphologically related to the family Microascaceae. However, this strain did not morphologically match any of genera within this family. After an in-depth morphological characterization and phylogenetic analysis using a concatenated sequence dataset of four phylogenetically informative molecular markers (the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA); the D1-D2 domains of the 28S gene of the nuclear ribosomal RNA (LSU); and a fragment of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1α) and the β-tubulin (tub2) genes), we established the new genus Dactyliodendromyces, with Dactyliodendromyces holomorphus as its species. Additionally, as a result of our taxonomic study, we reclassified the paraphyletic genus Wardomyces into three different genera: Wardomyces sensu stricto, Parawardomyces gen. nov., and Pseudowardomyces gen. nov., with Parawardomyces ovalis (formerly Wardomyces ovalis) and Pseudowardomyces humicola (formerly Wardomyces humicola) as the type species of their respective genera. Furthermore, we propose new combinations, including Parawardomyces giganteus (formerly Wardomyces giganteus) and Pseudowardomyces pulvinatus (formerly Wardomyces pulvinatus).

Unravelling the hidden diversity of cave mycobiota in Thailand's Satun Geopark

Karst caves are distinctive ecosystems that have limited nutrients, darkness, low to moderate temperatures, and high moisture levels, which allow for a diverse range of fungal communities to thrive. Despite their significance, little is understood about the fungi found in karst caves in Thailand. In 2019, we studied the cultured mycobiota from five substrate types (air, water, rock, soil/sediment, and organic debris) in two karst caves (Le Stegodon and Phu Pha Phet Caves) of the Satun UNESCO Global Geopark, southern Thailand. A cumulative count of 829 distinct fungal morphological types was identified, encompassing 319 fungal culturable were observed. Based on preliminary analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence using BLAST searches, the most common phylum among the fungal morphotypes was Ascomycota, harboring 282 species in 91 genera, 93.4% of which were distributed in the classes Eurotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, and Dothideomycetes. The most common fungal genera identified in the two karst caves were Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, Talaromyces, Xylaria, and Trichoderma, with 45, 41, 24, 14, 14, and 6 species identified, respectively. Discovering fungi in Thai karst caves highlights the extensive fungal diversity in the Satun UNESCO Global Geopark, implying undiscovered species, and emphasizing the need for comprehensive investigations in other unexplored Thai karst caves.