Crous, Hernández-Restrepo & Groenewald & Crous, 2015

Hernández-Restrepo, Margarita, Groenewald, Johannes Z. & Crous, Pedro W., 2015, Neocordana gen. nov., the causal organism of Cordana leaf spot on banana, Phytotaxa 205 (4), pp. 229-238 : 233

Cordanales M. Hern. -Rest. & Crous , ord. nov. MycoBank MB811104

Ascomata superficial or slightly immersed, solitary or gregarious in scattered groups, globose to broadly ovoid, papillate, basal stroma sometimes present, smooth, black to dark brown, periphysate. Asci cylindrical, short-stalked, unitunicate, with 8 uniseriate ascospores. Paraphyses hyaline, simple, septate. Ascospores ellipsoid to fusiform, 1-septate, pale brown or hyaline becoming brown. Conidiophores erect, simple or branched, brown, with a few rhizoidal hyphae arising from the base. Conidiogenous cells polyblastic, denticulate. Conidia 0–1-septate, pale to dark brown, smooth or verruculose.

Type:— Cordana pauciseptata Preuss Family included:— Cordanaceae Nann.

Note:—The Cordanaceae was established for the genus Cordana . Based on the ascomatal morphology that is porosphaerella-like, Cordana has been allied with the Trichosphaeriaceae and Chaetosphaeriaceae (Müller & Samuels 1982, Réblová et al. 1999). Recent molecular studies reported the family to be phylogenetically closely related to the Coniochaetales ( Réblová & Winka 2000, Huhndorf et al. 2004, Réblová & Seifert 2007, Hernández-Restrepo et al. 2014, Zelski et al. 2014). Coniochaetales includes only one family Coniochaetaceae , with members characterized by ascomata lacking of stromatic tissue, ascospores with elongated germ slits and phialidic asexual morphs (Huhndorf et al. 2004), clearly different from members of Cordanaceae that can have a basal stroma, ascospores without germ slits and polyblastic asexual morphs. Our data strongly support the Cordanaceae as being monophyletic and a new order, Cordanales , is established for the Cordanaceae .