Sordariomycetes
is one of the largest classes of
Ascomycota
and is characterised by perithecial ascomata and inoperculate unitunicate asci. The class includes many important plant pathogens, as well ...as endophytes, saprobes, epiphytes, and fungicolous, lichenized or lichenicolous taxa. The class includes freshwater, marine and terrestrial taxa and has a worldwide distribution. This paper provides an updated outline of the
Sordariomycetes
and a backbone tree incorporating asexual and sexual genera in the class. Based on phylogeny and morphology we introduced three subclasses;
Diaporthomycetidae, Lulworthiomycetidae
and
Meliolomycetidae
and five orders;
Amplistromatales
,
Annulatascales
,
Falcocladiales
,
Jobellisiales
and
Togniniales
. The outline is based on literature to the end of 2014 and the backbone tree published in this paper. Notes for 397 taxa with information, such as new family and genera novelties, novel molecular data published since the Outline of Ascomycota 2009, and new links between sexual and asexual genera and thus synonymies, are provided. The Sordariomycetes now comprises six subclasses, 28 orders, 90 families and 1344 genera. In addition a list of 829 genera with uncertain placement in
Sordariomycetes
is also provided.
The taxonomic position of the marine fungi referred to the TBM clade is re-evaluated along with the marine species Chaetosphaeria chaetosa, and the terrestrial asexual genus Falcocladium. ...Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences of two ribosomal nuclear loci of the above taxa and those previous recognized as the TBM clade suggest that they form a distinct clade amongst the Hypocreales, Microascales, Savoryellales, Coronophorales and Melanosporales in the Hypocreomycetidae. Four well-supported subclades in the “TBM clade” are discerned including: 1) the Juncigena subclade, 2) the Etheirophora and Swampomyces s. s. subclade, 3) the Falcocladium subclade and 4) the Torpedospora subclade. Chaetosphaeria chaetosa does not group in the Chaetosphaeriales but together with Swampomyces aegyptiacus and S. clavatispora they group in the Juncigena subclade, while Falcocladium forms a sister group to the Etheirophora and Swampomycess. s. subclade. Swampomyces aegyptiacus and S. clavatispora share some morphological and ecological characteristics with Juncigena, but they are not monophyletic, and a new genus is introduced to accommodate them (Fulvocentrum). Chaetosphaeria chaetosa however, differs significantly from other Chaetosphaeria and Juncigena species and a new genus Marinokulati is proposed to accommodate it. The taxonomic significance of the phylogenetic data is discussed and new families are proposed for the four clades highlighted in this paper: Juncigenaceae, Etheirophoraceae, Falcocladiaceae and Torpedosporaceae, which differ from all other families in the Hypocreomycetidae.
