The Botryosphaeriaceae: genera and species known from culture

In this paper we give an account of the genera and species in the Botryosphaeriaceae. We consider morphological characters alone as inadequate to define genera or identify species, given the confusion it has repeatedly introduced in the past, their variation during development, and inevitable overlap as representation grows. Thus it seems likely that all of the older taxa linked to the Botryosphaeriaceae, and for which cultures or DNA sequence data are not available, cannot be linked to the species in this family that are known from culture. Such older taxa will have to be disregarded for future use unless they are epitypified. We therefore focus this paper on the 17 genera that can now be recognised phylogenetically, which concentrates on the species that are presently known from culture. Included is a historical overview of the family, the morphological features that define the genera and species and detailed descriptions of the 17 genera and 110 species. Keys to the genera and species are also provided. Phylogenetic relationships of the genera are given in a multi-locus tree based on combined SSU, ITS, LSU, EF1-α and β-tubulin sequences. The morphological descriptions are supplemented by phylogenetic trees (ITS alone or ITS + EF1-α) for the species in each genus.We would like to thank the curators of the numerous fungaria and Biological Resource Centres cited in this paper, for making specimens and cultures available for examination over the past 15 yr, without which this study would not have been possible. Part of this work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) through grant PEst-OE/BIA/UI0457/2011. Artur Alves and Alan Phillips were supported by the programme Ciência 2008, co-funded by the Human Potential Operational Programme (National Strategic Reference Framework 2007–2013) and the European Social Fund (EU).publishe