Nimbya and Embellisia revisited, with nov. comb for Alternaria celosiae and A. perpunctulata

Daniel P. Lawrence, Myung Soo Park, Barry M. Pryor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

Previous phylogenetic analyses revealed that species within the genera Nimbya and Embellisia reside within a large monophyletic clade that also includes the genera Alternaria, Ulocladium, Undifilum, Sinomyces, and Crivellia with Stemphylium as the sister taxon. This study expands upon previous work by including many contemporary species of each genus and utilizes molecular and morphological characters to further examine relationships. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian analysis reveals that Nimbya is not a monophyletic genus but is split into two phylogenetically distant clades, which have different and distinct conidial morphologies. One of these clades resides completely within Alternaria. Phylogenetic analyses also reveals that Embellisia does not form a monophyletic genus but is split into four monophyletic lineages. Moreover, several species of Embellisia cluster individually with clades that are predominantly Alternaria, Ulocladium, or Stemphylium, yet these Embellisia spp. possess morphological characters that are diagnostically Embellisia. Thus, these data reveal that both Nimbya and Embellisia are polyphyletic as currently defined and taxonomic restructuring is necessary in order to resolve conflict between historical morphological and contemporary molecular-based phylogenies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)799-815
Number of pages17
JournalMycological Progress
Volume11
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2012

Keywords

  • Alternaria
  • Embellisia
  • Nimbya
  • Phylogenetics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)

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