Revision of Xylonaceae (Xylonales, Xylonomycetes) to include Sarea and Tromera

The resinicolous fungi Sarea difformis and S. resinae (Sareomycetes) were taxonomically revised on the basis of morphological observations and phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences of the nSSU-LSU-rpb1-rpb2-mtSSU genes. The results of phylogenetic analyses show that S. difformis and S. resinae are grouped with members of Xylonomycetes. According to the results of phylogenetic analyses and their sexual and asexual morphs resemblance, Sareomycetes is synonymized with Xylonomycetes. Although Tromera has been considered a synonym of Sarea based on the superficial resemblance of the sexual morph, we show that they are distinct genera and Tromera should be resurrected to accommodate T. resinae (= S. resinae). Xylonomycetes was morphologically re-circumscribed to comprise a single family (Xylonaceae) with four genera (Sarea, Trinosporium, Tromera, and Xylona) sharing an endophytic or plant saprobic stage in their lifecycle, ascostroma-type ascomata with paraphysoid, Lecanora-type bitunicate asci, and pycnidial asexual morphs. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS sequences and environmental DNA (eDNA) implied a worldwide distribution of the species. Although Symbiotaphrinales has been treated as a member of Xylonomycetes in previous studies, it was shown to be phylogenetically, morphologically, and ecologically distinct. We, therefore, treated Symbiotaphrinales as Pezizomycotina incertae sedis.

Automated summary

The resinicolous fungi Sarea difformis and S. resinae were taxonomically revised based on morphological observations and phylogenetic analyses. The results show that they belong to the Xylonomycetes group, leading to the synonymization of Sareomycetes with Xylonomycetes. Tromera is considered a distinct genus from Sarea, and Xylonomycetes is re-circumscribed to include a single family with four genera.