Epitypification of Broomella vitalbae and introduction of a novel species of Hyalotiella

Broomella and Hyalotiella are poorly known genera in Amphisphaeriaceae. Both genera are known from morphological descriptions, but lack molecular data, thus their generic placement and relationships with other genera are unclear. Three collections of Amphisphaeriaceae were made from dead twigs of Clematis in Italy, and two from Spartium species and were identified as Broomella and Hyalotiella species. In order to obtain a phylogenetic understanding of Broomella and Hyalotiella within the family Amphisphaeriaceae, we carried out a phylogenetic analysis based on LSU gene data. Results show that these five isolates represent two distinct genera. Based on both morphological and phylogenetic data, the three isolates form Clematis are shown to be conspecific with Broomella vitalbae. In this paper we designated an epitype with a sexual and asexual morph for B. vitalbae to stabilize the understanding of the genus. The two strains from Spartium fit within the generic concepts of Hyalotiella, but sequence data for Hyalotiella species are presently lacking. Hyalotiella spartii sp. nov. is introduced based on its host association and morphological characters.