Taxonomy of the -group (Hypocreales, Ascomycota).

Three new species, closely related to , are described from the USA and India. These species form septate conidia from simple conidiophores with individual branches terminating in a single phialide and chlamydospores. Teleomorphs, known for and , are characterised by hairy perithecia and fusiform, apiculate, and conspicuously warted ascospores. This combination of characters distinguishes the -group from other members of that all form gliocladium-type anamorphs and mostly grow on basidiomata of spp. Like in other species of the genus, the majority of hosts of the species described in this paper belong to wood-inhabiting taxa of Russulales. had been recorded from a few regions in Europe and exclusively on Herein, it is reported also from in many other localities and on s.l. at the foothills of the Himalayas. Its sister species, found in the same region in northern India on another member of Russulales (, is described as The two species described from North America colonize polypores from various taxa. Whereas occurs in eastern USA, with among its hosts, is so far known only from two locations in eastern Texas, growing on (Polyporales). Despite their great similarity in morphology and ITS rDNA, TEF1 sequences clearly distinguish these two North-American species. Moreover, the two strains of appeared metabolically distinct as their organic extracts strongly inhibited the growth of human pathogenic microbes grown in vitro. Phylogenetic analysis of rDNA sequences supports monophyly of the genus and the included -group, established here.