Three European species of Hypocrea with reddish brown stromata and green ascospores

The European species Hypocrea epimyces (Hypocreales, Ascomycota, Fungi) is redescribed based on the holotype including the drawing on its envelope by Saccardo and freshly collected material. The holomorphs of two closely related species, H. alni and H. brunneoviridis, are described as new Species of the genus. They are characterized with morphological and molecular met-hods, including, studies and phylogenetic analyses with internal transcribed spacerss I and 2 as a pat-L of the ribosomal RNA gene cluster, calmodulin, endochitinase intron 4 of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene, and a part of the RNTA polymemse II subunit B gene as phylogenetic markers. All species described here have green ascospores. Although phylogenetically closely related to H. lixii, they form reddish brown instead of green to black stromata. Except for H. brunneoviridis, forming nearly gliocladium -like conidiophores, the anamorphs of these species are similar to each other but vary in the angles of conidiophore, branches and phialides, in phenotypic arrangement of conidiation on growth plates and in growth rates of cultures.