The genus Murispora

We are studying dothideomycetes with muriform ascospores and in this paper provide an account of those species in Amniculicolaceae. In this family muriform ascospores are only known in the genus Murispora. In this paper we introduce the new species M. fagicola (on dead branches of Fagus sylvatica), M. galii (on dead twigs of Galium sp.), M. cardui (on dead twigs of Carduus sp.), M. medicaginicola (on dead twigs of Medicago sp), M. cicognanii (on dead branches of Clematis sp.) and M. hawksworthii (on dead twigs of an unknown woody plant), collected from Italy and the UK. Descriptions, illustrations and justifications for the novelty are provided for each taxon. Morphological character differences and analysis of combined LSU, SSU and EF1-α sequence datasets support the validity of the new species and their placement in Murispora in Amniculicolaceae. The asexual morph of M. hawksworthii was established from single ascospore isolates.