History

Dothideomycetes (previously known as Loculoascomycetes) include over 20,000 species and comprises two subclasses, Dothideomycetidae and Pleosporomycetidae (Schoch et al. 2006, Hyde et al. 2013, Hongsanan et al. 2020a, b). Dothideomycetidae was invalidly introduced by Kirk et al. (2001) because it lacked a Latin description or diagnosis. Lutzoni et al. (2004) previously placed Dothideomycetidae in Sordariomycetes as a subclass together with the subclass Sordariomycetidae (syn. Sordariomycetes s. str.) and Arthoniomycetidae (syn. Arthoniomycetes), even though there was no strong statistical support for this broad concept of Sordariomycetes. Schoch et al. (2006) provided an emendation of Dothideomycetidae (Kirk et al. 2001) based on combined analysis of SSU, LSU, TEF-1 and RPB2 and included only aparaphysate taxa (lacking paraphyses, pseudoparaphyses and paraphysoids) and the bitunicate orders Dothideales, Capnodiales and Myriangiales. Dothideomycetidae resembles Loculoparenchymatomycetidae (Barr 1983) but differed in comprising Myriangiales without Asterinales. Dothideomycetidae is polyphyletic and previously comprised three lineages namely Capnodiales (phylogenetically unresolved), Myriangiales (weakly supported paraphyletic group) and Dothideales (poorly supported group) (Schoch et al. 2006). The Dothideomycetidae generally form pseudothecia, which mostly resemble the perithecia of the Sordariomycetidae, but in contrast to true perithecia, they develop before and independent from fertilization of the ascogonium (Nannfeldt 1932, Luttrell 1955). Members in Dothideomycetidae also produce bitunicate asci while Sordariomycetes form unitunicate asci. Hongsanan et al. (2020a) accepted three orders, 25 families and 413 genera in Dothideomycetidae. In this study, we accept ten orders viz. Aureoconidiellales Hern. -Restr. & Crous, Capnodiales Woron., Cladosporiales Abdollahz. & Crous, Comminutisporales Abdollahz. & Crous, Dothideales Lindau (= Neocelosporiales Crous fide Hongsanan et al. 2020a), Mycosphaerellales (Nannf.) P.F. Cannon, Myriangiales Starbäck, Neophaeothecales Abdollahz. & Crous, Phaeothecales Abdollahz. & Crous and Racodiales Abdollahz. & Crous, 31 families and 451 genera in Dothideomycetidae. Pleosporomycetidae was introduced by Schoch et al. (2006) with Pleosporales as the type order based on combined analysis of SSU, LSU, TEF-1 and RPB2. Pleosporomycetidae includes taxa characterised by the presence of pseudoparaphyses as defined by Barr (1987) while members of Dothideomycetidae lack pseudoparaphyses. Hongsanan et al. (2020b) and Liew et al. (2000) used trabeculae or trabeculate pseudoparaphyses for those with a diameter of around 1 µm, which visibly anastomose between the asci and are clearly embedded in a gelatinous matrix and considered all other types as cellular pseudoparaphyses. Hongsanan et al. (2020a) accepted four orders, 94 families and 644 genera in Pleosporomycetidae. We accept four orders viz. Gloniales Jayasiri & K.D. Hyde, Hysteriales Lindau, Mytilinidiales E. Boehm, C.L. Schoch & Spatafora and Pleosporales Luttrell ex M.E. Barr, 94 families and 686 genera in Pleosporomycetidae. Several orders and families could not be assigned in any of the two subclasses defined and are referred to as orders and families incertae sedis in Dothideomycetes. Hongsanan et al. (2020b) accepted 31 orders comprising 50 families and 344 genera as orders incertae sedis, and 41 families comprising 94 genera as families incertae sedis due to lack of molecular or morphological evidence. In this paper, we recognize 36 orders containing 57 families and 365 genera as orders incertae sedis, and 41 families comprising 98 genera as families incertae sedis. We deal with the genera of Dothideomycetes as currently recognized and bring together recently published information and attempt to link morphological data to the findings resulting from molecular analyses from published papers. This study is a continuation of the papers “Families of Dothideomycetes” (Hyde et al. 2013) and “Refined families of Dothideomycetes” (Hongsanan et al. 2020a, b). The present treatment is needed as our knowledge has rapidly increased, from 37 orders, 209 families and 1495 genera (246 genera incertae sedis) in 2020 to 50 orders, 226 families and 1941 genera (267 genera incertae sedis) at the time of publication.

We provide updated notes on all 1941 generic types in Dothideomycetes introduced up to the end of 2022. For genera published in 2023 we list the genus in Table 1 and provide either a hyperlink to the outlineoffungi.com (Wijayawardene et al. 2021) or a link to the publication under the genus. Each genus has an updated description and notes on their role and distribution. Faces of Fungi and Index Fungorum numbers are provided for all genera and species as in Jayasiri et al. (2015) and Index Fungorum (2024) respectively. Estimated numbers of species for each genus are provided based on data in Species Fungorum (2023), with species transferred to other genera being excluded. The number of species noted in this paper are those extracted from Species Fungorum and Index Fungorum at the time of writing between 2020–2023. These data have constantly been changing so these figures are likely to be inaccurate. Most of the taxa in speciose genera have not been restudied in recent decades and the estimates may be high. However, recent studies of speciose genera have found them to be much more species diverse than realized. The number of species with molecular data available in GenBank at the time of writing is also provided. The morphology of each genus is illustrated by photographic plates from the type specimens, or from collections with sequence data. A combined photoplate was provided when more than one species was included in a genus and based on its data availability. An updated description is provided for species of 117 selected genera for which we were able to loan herbarium specimens. We provide drawings for genera for which we were unable to obtain a herbarium specimen. The host and geographical distribution data were taken from USDA, Index Fungorum and related publications. ‘Material considered’ is the holotype or any other specimen representative of the genus published in the given paper. ‘Recent literature’ is the latest publication related to the genus published in and after 2020. This work is a refined updated document of the genera of Dothideomycetes (Hongsanan et al. 2020a, b) and provides a baseline for future research. The contents of an online database, dothideomycetes.org (Pem et al. 2019e), will be continuously updated keeping abreast of the current literature as new data and supplementary information comes to light.

About Dothideomycetes

The website Dothideomycetes.org provides an up-to-date classification and account of all genera of the class Dothideomycetes.

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