XVI International Botanical Congess

Mycosphaerella and Botryosphaeria represent two loculoascomycete genera in the Dothideales. More than 20 anamorph genera have been associated with Mycosphaerella, and approximately 7 with Botryosphaeria. Mycosphaerella spp. are generally accepted to be host specific, while those of Botryosphaeria are not. Results obtained comparing sequence data of the nrDNA ITS1 and ITS2 of Mycosphaerella and Botryosphaeria spp. could distinguish taxa at species level. Although species from the same anamorph genus generally clustered together, several genera were indistinguishable, questioning the morphotaxonomic features used to separate them. Based on these data, Mycosphaerella did not appear to be paraphyletic. This is in contrast to Botryosphaeria, where a clear distinction was observed between hyaline and dark-spored anamorph genera.