Pseudomelanconiella Apurillo, Phukhams., E. B. G. Jones & K. D. Hyde 2025, gen. nov.

Pseudomelanconiella Apurillo, Phukhams., E. B. G. Jones & K. D. Hyde gen. nov. Etymology. From the Greek “ pseudo ” meaning false, due to the close morphologic similarity of isolates with Melanconiella species. Type species. Pseudomelanconiella mangrovei. Description. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Conidiomata globose to subglobose, immersed to erumpent, develop under a clypeus with variable stromata, confluent, mostly with a long, conical, central ostiole, black. Ostiole present. Peridium light brown to brown, composed of textura angularis cells. Conidiophores hyaline, septate. Conidiogenous cells hyaline, phialidic. Conidia oblong to ellipsoid, light-brown, unicellular, aseptate, verrucose, without gelatinous sheath. Notes. Combined phylogenetic analysis of ITS, LSU, rpb 2 and tef 1 - α sequences reveal that Pseudomelanconiella forms a distinct, well-supported clade separate from other genera in Melanconiellaceae. The sister taxon is Septomelanconiella, however, this monotypic genus is distinguished by its septate, laminate conidia, which is not observed in Pseudomelanconiella (Phookamsak et al. 2019). Both Pseudomelanconiella and Septomelanconiella are coelomycetous and have no reported sexual morphs (Phookamsak et al. 2019). Pairwise differences between the Septomelanconiella and Pseudomelanconiella in ITS (13.2 %), LSU (1.6 %), rpb 2 (16.1 %) are all higher than the lowest base difference observed between genera in Melanconiellaceae. Septomelanconiella was isolated as a saprobe from Syzygium samarangense in a terrestrial environment while Pseudomelanconiella was isolated from mangroves in a brackish water environment (Phookamsak et al. 2019). These support the establishment of a new genus with Pseudomelanconiella mangrovei as the type species.