Distinguished from Tiarosporella by having conidiomata with long necks, and having holoblastic conidiogenesis. Similar to Marasasiomyces, except conidiomata frequently in clusters.

Results from the present study revealed that the genus Tiarosporella s.lat. is actually poly- and paraphyletic.Tiarosporella-like taxa cluster in the Phacidiaceae, and Botryosphaeriaceae. Species ofTiarosporella s.str. belong tothe Botryosphaeriaceae. Those species clustering in the Phacidiaceae (see Crouset al. 2014), are associated with needlediseases of conifers (Karadžic 1998, Müller & Hantula 1998), and would be better allocated to the genus Darkera, forwhich a new species, D. picea, occurring on Picea spp. in Finland, Norway and Switzerland is introduced. This speciesis closely related to D. parca which occurs according to morphological characteristics both in Siberia and Canada andpossibly also in Europe. Further collections are required, however, to resolve the status ofD. parca in northern borealforests, to determine if this is a morphologically variable taxon, or if several different species are involved, the speciesin the UK having somewhat larger conidia than the species occurring in Canada and Siberia. Furthermore, the epitypification ofTiarosporella, based on T. paludosa, allowed us to separate this genus from itsclose allies in the Botryosphaeriaceae that actually form a subclade (Fig. 2), representing several genera with conidialappendages. This subclade includes genera such asBotryobambusa (see Liu et al. 2012 fig. 11, though appendageoverlooked by the authors), and two new genera, namely Marasasiomyces, and Eutiarosporella. Eutiarosporella ismorphologically similar to Marasasiomyces (long necked, hairy conidiomata, and holoblastic conidiogenesis), exceptthat it forms conidiomata in clusters, which is not the case in Marasasiomyces. The latter two genera are distinguishedfrom Tiarosporella by having conidiomata with elongated necks, and holoblastic conidiogenesis, while Tiarosporella hasglobose to depressed, unilocular conidiomata and conidiogenous cells with percurrent proliferation. Marasasiomycesand Eutiarosporella cluster sister to the genus Mucoharknessia, which appears harknessia-like in general morphology.The genusHarknessia (Harknessiaceae, Diaporthales; Crous et al. 2012) is similar to Apoharknessia (conidia withapical apiculus, short basal appendage, and percurrent proliferating conidiogenous cells; Leeet al. 2004) and Dwiroopa(conidia with prominent longitudinal conidial germ slits; Farr & Rossman 2003).Mucoharknessia is distinguishedfrom these genera by lacking the brown, furfuraceous margins around the ostioles of conidiomata, and by being alliedto the Botryosphaeriaceae. Finally, the genus Sakireeta is resurrected, and shown to cluster apart from Tiarosporella,having multilocular conidiomata embedded in a brown stroma, which is distinct from the solitary conidiomata ofTiarosporella s.str. In spite of recent studies that have provided molecular support for 18 genera in the Botryosphaeriaceae (Crouset al. 2013, Phillips et al. 2013, Wijayawardene et al. 2014), the present study adds four new genera to the family,namely Eutiarosporella, Marasasiomyces, Mucoharknessia andSakireeta. Further studies will undoubtedly discovereven more genera and species in this family, which appears to have members that are ecologically diverse, inhabitinggrasses as well as woody hosts, with life styles including endophytes, saprobes, plant and human pathogens (Phillips et al. 2013, Slippers et al. 2013).