New taxa of Xylariales from Karst Ecosystems in Southwestern China

The order Xylariales consists of fungi that are widely distributed and commonly found on decaying wood, fallen branches, and trunks. Despite the taxonomic and morphological challenges in accurately identifying species within this group, interest in Xylariales has increased in recent years, largely due to their ecological significance and and species diversity. Over the course of this study, dead branches of several plant hosts with fungal fruiting bodies were collected from Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi China. The collected specimens were described morphologically, and a multigene phylogeny was constructed based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS), 28S large subunit rDNA (LSU), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2), and β-tubulin (TUB2), including a significant number of representative species of the main lineages in the Xylariales. These analyses led to the introduction of 24 new species: Amphibambusa cerosissimae, Am. subbambusicola, Anthostomella guangxiensis, Arecophila guizhouensis, Ar. subguizhouensis, Biscogniauxia betulae, Cainia daweishanensis, Ca. shilihetanensis, Daldinia guizhouensis, Digitodochium damingshanense, D. xishuangbannense, D. zhangjiajiense, Fasciatispora guizhouensis, Helicogermslita nulliclypeata, Magnostiolata shiwandashanensis, Minuticlypeus yunnanensis, Nemania huangjingensis, Spirodecospora anshunensis, S. daweishanensis, S. jichuanenii, S. jinghongensis, Vamsapriya clypeata, V. damingshanensis, and V. shiwandashanensis. Additionally, we report the occurrence of three new records in China, which includes Amphibambusa bambusicola, Biscogniauxia petrensis, and Fasciatispora cocoes. A new combination Magnostiolata guizhouensis (= Anthostomella guizhouensis) is proposed based on comparative morphological analysis and phylogenetic evidence. Morphologically similar species and phylogenetically close taxa are compared and discussed. Comprehensive morphological descriptions, illustrations, and a phylogenetic tree to show the placement of new taxa are provided.