The fungus was isolated from living but discoloured needles of Pinus radiata. It did not fit the descriptions of any species described in a monograph of Calonectria and Cylindrocladium species (Crous 2002). Cultures were sent to the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, who considered it to be an undescribed species although it was morphologically similar to Cylindrocladium hurae (Linder & Whetzel) Crous and, based on beta tubulin sequence data, to C. retaudii (Bugnicourt) C. Booth/ C. multiseptatum Crous & Wingfield (P. Crous, pers. comm.). It has no pathological significance.

This is a segregate from collections originally tentatively identified as Verticicladiella procera (=Leptographium procerum) (Wingfield and Marasas 1983). Jacobs et al. (2001) examined many isolates of L. procerum sensu lato and determined that four morphologically different groups could be distinguished. One of these groups represented L. procerum sensu stricto and the other three were described as new species — L. alethinum (from England and Scotland), L. pityophilum (from Italy), and L. euphyes (from New Zealand). A re-examination of cultures of L. procerum and of unidentified Leptographium species held in the New Zealand Forest Research Institute culture collection (NZFS) showed that a number fitted closely with the description of L. alethinum provided by Jacobs et al. (2001). The description of L. alethinum given above is based on these cultures. It should be noted that the conidiophores in the New Zealand collections are shorter (450–910 m) than those described by Jacobs et al. (2001) (560–1270 m), and that rhizoids are consistently present in the New Zealand collections while they are described as being occasionally present by Jacobs et al. (2001).

Sporothrix nothofagi differs from other Sporothrix species for which no teleomorphic stage is known (de Hoog 1974) in its ability to colonise living sapwood of Nothofagusspp. and in combining the characters of possessing long, tapering, conidiogenous cells, short acicular conidiiferous rachides, and small denticles.

The stromata on these earlier collections of V. rubricosa are black rather than rusty red and in that they resemble V. insitiva (Tode: Fries) Cesati & de Notaris. As Saccardo (1876) and Müller and von Arx (1962) have pointed out, the two species are very closely related. Valsaria rubricosa is regarded as saprophyte without any pathological significance. Its presence in New Zealand was recorded by McKenzie et al. (2000).