An evaluation of the monophyly of Massarina based on ribosomal DNA sequences

The monophyletic status of the genus Massarina was evaluated on the basis of phylogenetic analysis of the partial small subunit gene (SSU), in- ternal transcribed spacers (ITS 1 & 2), and 5.8S gene sequences of the ribosomal DNA. Species of Massar- ina used in the study clustered into two distinct clades with high bootstrap support in trees generated from maximum parsimony, weighted parsimony, maximum likelihood, and neighbor-joining analyses. The hypothesis that Massarina species belong to a phylogenetically monophyletic group is rejected. Spe- cies with narrowly fusiform ascospores form a mono- phyletic clade with Lophiostoma, a genus highly sim- ilar in morphology. The five species currently ac- cepted in Massarina with such spore morphology are here transferred into the genus Lophiostoma. Massar- ina species with broadly fusiform to ellipsoidal asco- spores are retained as Massarina s. str., lectotypified by M. eburnea. Massarina walkeri is presently exclud- ed from both Massarina and Lophiostoma. The trans- fer of M. papulosa to a new genus Oletheriostrigula is verified.