Note on the genus Nemania (Xylariaceae) – first records and a new species of the genus from Iran

Abstract

In a survey of xylarialean fungi in northern Iran, some specimens attributable to the genus Nemania were collected, cultured and sequenced. Morphological evidence and phylogenetic analyses of a combined ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TUB2 gene dataset confirmed the presence of Nemania diffusa and N. serpens in Iran for the first time. Furthermore, the new species N. hyrcana, which shows similarities to N. subaenea and its putative synonym N. plumbea, but significantly differs from the latter in its DNA sequences, was encountered. All species are illustrated, described and discussed. In the phylogenetic analyses, for the first time, the overlooked ex-type ITS sequences of the neotype of the generic type, N. serpens and that of the holotype of N. prava, were added to a multi-gene matrix of Nemania. This revealed that the two accessions of N. serpens (HAST 235 and CBS 679.86), for which multigene data are available in GenBank, are misidentified, while the Iranian accession of N. serpens has an almost identical ITS sequence to the neotype, confirming its morphological species identification. The two previously accepted species of Euepixylon, E. udum and E. sphaeriostomum, are embedded within Nemania and are revealed as close relatives of N. serpens, supporting the inclusion of Euepixylon in Nemania.