Novel Pestalotiopsis species from Thailand point to the rich undiscovered diversity of this chemically creative genus

Two novel species, Pestalotiopsis shorea from Shorea obtusa and P. simitheae from Pandanus sp. were isolated in Thailand. They are introduced in this paper on the basis of morphological and molecular characteristics. P. shorea differs in morphology from its closely related species, P. adusta, by its shorter, tubular apical appendages and brown median cells; P. simitheae can be separated from its sister species, P. theae, by its shorter apical appendages, larger length/width ratio and colony with irregular edge and being orange on reverse of PDA plates. Phylogenetic analysis based on a combined sequence dataset from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), partial β-tubulin and partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1) gene loci, confirms their distinct phylogenetic positions in the genus with strong support.