Microfungi From the Dry Season: More Novelties From Subtropical Texas, USA

Field work conducted during an atypically dry summer in southeastern Texas, USA, led to the isolation and sequencing of several novel or rare ascomycetous microfungi. In the Dothideomycetes, the taeniolella‐like hyphomycetous morph of Piepenbringia multiplex (Pleosporales) was collected together with its lophiotrema‐like sexual morph. Its placement in an independent, well‐supported monophyletic lineage within the order supported the introduction of the monotypic family Piepenbringiaceae to accommodate it. A new genus Rhexoacrodictyella is established for Rhexoacrodictys fuliginosa , collected on rotten wood, and placed within Microthyriales distant from the type species, R. erecta , in Pleurotheciales (Sordariomycetes). A new species Kirschsteiniothelia texana (Kirschsteiniotheliales) is described from bark of Pinus taeda . The fungus is morphologically similar to K. longisporum , collected on identical substrate in China, but the latter differs in having branched, longer conidiophores, shorter conidia, and being phylogenetically distant. In the Sordariomycetes, the genus Mucispora is reduced to synonymy with Melanocephala after the recollection of Me. triseptata (Fuscosporellales), and four new combinations are proposed. A detailed study of the protologue of Mu. infundibulata shows it is conspecific with Me. australiensis , whereas molecular data confirmed that Mu. yunnanensis is conspecific with Mu. maesotensis . Therefore, both species names are reduced to synonymy. Novel phylogenetic placements are provided for Mycoenterolobium platysporum , Spadicoides americana , and Sporoschismopsis simmonsii . Dematipyriforma aquilariae and Paradictyoarthrinium diffractum are recorded for the first time from the USA. The geographical distribution of these novel or rarely collected fungi was revealed by the GlobalFungi database and showed that their sequences sporadically occur in metagenomic studies supporting their overall rare occurrence.