Cones, needles and wood: (.) speciation segregates by host plant tissues.

was described more than 50 years ago to accommodate a phacidium-like fungus that caused a foliar disease of . After its publication, two more species were added, and , all of them growing on in the Northern Hemisphere, but each species occupying a unique type of host tissue (needles, cones or wood). is considered to be a member of class , but was originally placed in (), later transferred to () and recently returned to but in a different family (). The genus remains poorly sampled, and hence poorly understood both taxonomically and ecologically. Here, we use morphology, cultures and sequences to provide insights into its systematic position in and its ecology. Our results show that the genus should not be included in or , and support the erection of a new family and order with a unique combination of morphological features supported by molecular data.