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Systematics of the genus Chaetosphaeria and its allied genera: morphological and phylogenetic diversity in north temperate and neotropical taxa

     Field Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496

Andrew N. Miller

     Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Biodiversity, 607 E. Peabody Dr, Champaign, Illinois 61820

Sabine M. Huhndorf ¹

     Field Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496

François M. Lutzoni

     Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina, 27708

Stefan Zoller

     Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland

Chaetosphaeria is a common saprobic pyrenomycete genus with simple, homogeneous teleomorphs and complex, diverse anamorphs. As currently circumscribed in the literature, the genus encompasses 30 species distributed in four ‘natural groups’, and includes morphological entities in 11 anamorphic genera. Species frequently have been defined primarily based on characters of the anamorphs resulting in species with almost indistinguishable teleomorphs. This study aimed to assess the value and significance of morphological characters in resolving phylogenetic relationships in Chaetosphaeria and its allied genera. Phylogenetic relationships of 42 taxa, representing 29 species distributed in Chaetosphaeria and five related genera, were estimated with partial sequences of the nuclear LSU rDNA and ß-tubulin genes. Sequences were analyzed with maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Phylogenetic analyses of these two genes combined revealed two major lineages. The Chaetosphaeria lineage includes 21 species possessing both typical and new sexual and asexual morphologies. The lineage contains a strongly supported monophyletic clade of 13 species and eight paraphyletic taxa; the latter includes C. innumera, the type species of the genus. The second major lineage includes groupings concordant with the morphological circumscriptions of the genera Melanochaeta, Melanopsammella, Striatosphaeria, Zignoëlla and the new genus Tainosphaeria.

Key words: anamorph, ß-tubulin, phylogeny, rDNA, taxonomy, teleomorph