A natural classification of Lasiosphaeria based on nuclear LSU rDNA sequences

The current circumscription of Lasiosphaeria includes taxa with a wide variety of ascomatal walls, ascomatal wall vestitures, and ascospore morphologies and a broad range of putative anamorphs. Despite the complexity of morphological characters in the genus, species within Lasiosphaeria can be arranged into four groups based on ascospore morphology. Taxa which possessed ascospores in each of the four groups were used in phylogenetic analyses of partial nuclear large subunit (LSU) rDNA sequences to test the monophyly of the genus and determine relationships among its species. Lasiosphaeria was found to be highly polyphyletic in that species segregated into seven well-supported monophyletic clades dispersed among several orders. Three new genera, Echinosphaeria, Hilberina, and Immersiella, are erected for three of these clades while the genus Lasiosphaeris is reintroduced for a fourth clade. These data support Ruzenia as a previously established genus and the transfer of Lasiosphaeria raciborskii to Chaetosphaeria. The circumscription of Lasiosphaeria has been considerably narrowed to better reflect a natural classification. These taxonomic changes are additionally supported by a combination of morphological characters which are discussed in relation to the phylogenetic trees.