Four New Pale-Spored Species of Xylaria (Xylariaceae, Xylariales) with a Key to Worldwide Species on Fallen Fruits and Seeds

Abstract

Xylaria, a large and cosmopolitan genus of Ascomycota, plays an important ecological role in forest ecology as wood-decomposers, and serve as a source of bioactive secondary metabolites. The present work concerns a survey of Xylaria from Southwest China. Four new species of Xylaria with pale-colored ascospores associated with fallen fruits and seeds are described and illustrated based on morphological and phylogenetic evidences. The phylogeny inferred from a combined dataset of ITS-RPB2-β-tubulin sequences supports these four species as distinct species. The four new taxa, namely Xylariarogersii, X. schimicola, X. theaceicola, and X. wallichii, are compared and contrasted against morphologically similar species. A dichotomous identification key to all the accepted species of Xylaria associated with fallen fruits and seeds is given.