Phylogenetic relationships in the family Hyaloscyphaceae inferred from sequences of ITS regions, 5.8S ribosomal DNA and morphological characters

The family Hyaloscyphaceae includes saprobic species of the order Helotiales characterized by well differentiated hairs on the apothecium and an ectal excipulum of textura prismatica. Because of the diverse morphology within the family Hyaloscyphaceae, the present study sought to determine the phylogenetic relationships among the different taxonomic groups using nucleotide sequences of the two internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, 5.8S ribosomal DNA and 31 morphological characters. The cladistic analysis of morphological characters provided little resolution of phylogenetic relationships. However, results obtained from the distance and parsimony analyses of molecular characters suggest that Hyaloscyphaceae is probably monophyletic and that it should be divided into three subfamilies, Arachnopezizoideae, Hyaloscyphoideae and Lachnoideae. The most distant species within the family is Arachnopeziza aurata. The genus Cistella, which may be a reduced form of a hyaloscyphaceous fungus, does not group within the major clade in ITS and 5.8S analyses, but may be closely related. Within the subfamily Lachnoideae, Lachnum is probably paraphyletic or polyphyletic as currently defined and is divided into at least two genera, those species with cylindrical paraphyses and spores more than 20 mu m long, typified by Lachnum abnorme, and those with broadly lanceolate paraphyses and spores less than 20 mu m long, typified by Lachnum virgineum.