Three new species of Calocybella from India based on morphology and molecular phylogeny

Three new species of Calocybella , C. lohitha , C. babruka and C. swetha are described from Kerala State, India based on morphology and molecular phylogeny. Comprehensive descriptions of these species are provided along with photo-illustrations and comparisons with phenetically similar and phylogenetically related species. Nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the three species were sequenced and analyzed. In addition, nuclear ribosomal large subunit (nrLSU) region of Calocybella swetha was sequenced and used in BLASTn search to find similar sequences. ITS-based phylogenetic analysis using Maximum likelihood (ML) method supported both the novelty of these species and their placement within the genus. The discovery of these three species forms the first record of Calocybella outside Europe .