To explore the Lasiosphaeriaceae project in full go to the
micro-site: click here. The Sordariales (Fungi, Ascomycetes)
contains 99 genera, divided among eight families. It includes
many economically and ecologically important species including
species of Ceratocystis and Chaetomium as well as the model taxa
Neurospora crassa and Sordaria fimicola. However, recent
phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequence data that included single
representatives of four of the families of Sordariales suggest
that the order is not monophyletic. A detailed assessment of the
relationship among Sordarialean families is necessary to address
this issue but before a meaningful sampling strategy can be
devised, revisions of several key genera must be undertaken. The
Lasiosphaeriaceae, 51 genera and about 1000 species, is the
largest and most morphologically diverse family in the order,
and in particular several of the species-rich genera in the
family remain unstudied. Relationships among the genera are also
unknown. In this study, we p