Evaluating Species in

The () includes numerous endophytic, saprobic, and plant pathogenic species associated with a wide range of symptoms, most commonly on woody plants. In a recent phylogenetic treatment of 499 isolates in the culture collection (CBS) of the Westerdijk Institute, we evaluated the families and genera accommodated in this order of important fungi. The present study presents multigene phylogenetic analyses for an additional 230 isolates, using ITS, , , LSU and loci, in combination with morphological data. Based on these data, 58 species are reduced to synonymy, and eight novel species are described. They include (, South Africa), (, South Africa), (, Indonesia), ( South Africa), ( South Africa), (, Germany), ( Australia) and ( Australia). The results have clarified the identity of numerous isolates that lacked Latin binomials or had been deposited under incorrect names in the CBS collection in the past. They also provide a solid foundation for more in-depth future studies on taxa in the order. Sequences of the , and genes proved to be the most reliable markers. At the species level, results showed that the most informative genes were inconsistent, but that a combination of four candidate barcodes (ITS, , and ) provided reliable resolution. Furthermore, given the large number of additional isolates included in this study, and newly generated multigene DNA datasets, several species could also be reduced to synonymy. The study illustrates the value of reassessing the identity of older collections in culture collections utilising modern taxonomic frameworks and methods. : Zhang W, Groenewald JZ, Lombard L, et al. 2021. Evaluating species in Botryosphaeriales. Persoonia 46: 63-115. https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2021.46.03.