Reassessment of Tympanis based on types of ascospore germination within asci

Abstract

The genus Tympanis is reassessed in the light of criteria provided by characters of ascospores and patterns of their germination within asci, rather than classical criteria of host specificity and dimensions of apothecia, asci, and ascospores. Consequently, several taxonomic and nomenclatural changes were made, and included establishment of Tympanis neopithya sp. nov. replacing T. pithya auct. non Karst.; T. pulchella sp. nov. and T. pseudoalnea sp. nov. segregated from T. alnea sensu Groves; T. heteromorpha sp. nov., from T. saligna; and T. grovesii sp. nov., from T. fasciculata; and establishment of T. alpina sp. nov. Tympanis pseudotsugae Groves is transferred to Claussenomyces and a new species, C. luteoviridis Ouellette & Korf, is described.