Megacapitulaceae, a New Family of Pleosporales through Epitypification and Multigene Phylogeny based on Fresh Material from India

This study introduces a new family, Megacapitulaceae, to accommodate an enigmatic fungus, Megacapitula villosa, hitherto placed under Pleosporales incertae sedis.Megacapitula is characterised by a large, ellipsoidal, obclavate, or obpyriform, muriform, pigmented, holoblastic conidia with dense hairy apical appendages.This genus has key morphological characteristics that distinctly set it apart from other known genera.The holotype of Megacapitula is a desiccated culture, making it incomparable to a freshly collected sporulating specimen and key diagnostic characteristics.Furthermore, the name-bearing type is unavailable for re-examination.Consequently, to comply with the proper nomenclature code and application of this name, a lectotype is assigned using the available illustration in the original protologue.Additionally, we designate a sequenced epitype based on a recent collection from the southern Western Ghats, Kannur (Kerala, India).Phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated LSU-SSU-ITS-tef1-rpb2 sequence data from the fresh ex-epitype NFCCI 5894 (Epitype AMH 10774) is delineated as a well-supported clade along with the erstwhile M. villosa accession, sister to Phaeoseptaceae, well within the ordinal classification of Pleosporales.