XVI International Botanical Congess

The perithecial ascomycetes (pyrenomycetes) form one of the largest and best supported clades within the Euascomycetes. The inclusion of taxa with contrasting life histories (e.g., lichenized vs. nonlichenized, marine vs. terrestrial, saprobic vs. parasitic) and morphologies (e.g. perithecial vs. cleistothecial ascomata) into common molecular phylogenetic studies has provided valuable insight into the evolution of these fungi. Results will be presented from molecular phylogenetic analyses and will focus on the following topics: i) phylogenetic origin of the pyrenomycetes among the Euascomycetes, ii) the phylogenetic origins of novel life histories (e.g., marine and entomopathogenic fungi) among the pyrenomycetes, and iii) convergent and parallel evolution of ascoma, ascus and ascospore morphologies.