Pezizomycotina species associated with rotten plant materials in Guizhou Province, China.

Nine Pezizomycotina strains were isolated from rotten dead branches and leaves collected from Guizhou Province. To obtain their accurate taxonomic placement, we provided the morphological characteristics of conidiophore cells and conidia. Phylogenetic relationships, based on ITS, rpb2, SSU, LSU and tub2 gene sequences, confirmed our strains represented three novel species, Peglioniafalcata, Neoascochytapseudofusiformis and Neomicrosphaeropsiscylindrica. Peglioniafalcata produced falcate conidia and Neoa.pseudofusiformis generated fusiform conidia, while Neom.cylindrica possessed cylindrical conidia. The phylogenetic results also supported them as novel taxa. All the new species in the present study were found as saprophytic on forest litter with high rainfall, which suggest they may have a certain effect on nutrient decomposition and redistribution in forest ecosystems. Thus, it opened a way for further research on related ecological roles and their application production.

Two new Botryosphaeria (Botryosphaeriales, Botryosphaeriaceae) species in China.

Five ascomycetous strains were isolated from dead branches and leaves of Salix (Salicaceae) and Osmanthusfragrans (Oleaceae), respectively. BLAST searches with ITS sequences in GenBank suggested a high degree of similarity to Botryosphaeriadothidea. To accurately identify these strains, we further analysed their morphological characteristics of asci, ascospores, all conidiophore cells and conidia. Phylogenetic relationships, based on ITS, rpb2, tef1 and tub2 gene sequences, confirmed our strains represented two novel species, which are introduced here as B.salicicola and B.osmanthuse spp. nov.

Four new Phragmidium (Phragmidiaceae, Pucciniomycetes) species from Rosaceae plants in Guizhou Province of China.

In this study, four new species of Phragmidium were proposed based on morphological and molecular characters. In morphology, Phragmidiumrosae-roxburghii sp. nov. was distinguished to related taxa by its unique square to diamond-shaped urediniospores; Ph.rubi-coreani sp. nov. differed from Ph.barclayi and Ph.cibanum because of teliospores with fewer cells and shorter pedicels; urediniospores of Ph.potentillae-freynianae sp. nov. were bigger than Ph.duchesneae-indicae; and Ph.rosae-laevigatae sp. nov. produced bigger urediniospores than Ph.jiangxiense. The phylogenetic analyses based on the combination of two loci (ITS and LSU) also supported our morphological conclusion. In the meantime, three previously known species were also described herein.