Lichenicolous fungi are a specialized group of taxa which inhabit lichens and develop diverse
degrees of specificity and parasitic behaviour towards their hosts. They are recognized
only by their phenotypic symptoms and sexual or asexual spore-producing
structures on the lichen thalli. Only recently, molecular data and culture dependent approaches
have helped in uncovering the species diversity and in verifying the phylogenetic
position and anamorpheteleomorph relationships of some taxa. Here, we studied the phylogenetic
placement of representative taxa of two lichenicolous genera, the coelomycete
Lichenodiplis and the ascomycete Muellerella. We obtained molecular data for three nuclear
and mitochondrial loci (28S, 18S, and 16S), both from fresh collected specimens and culture
isolates. Our multilocus phylogeny places Lichenodiplis and Muellerella samples in one
monophyletic, fully supported clade, sister to Epibryon (Epibryaceae) in Chaetothyriales
(Eurotiomycetes). Morphological analyses of axenically cultured fungi show the formation
of conidiomata and conidiospores in both Lichenodiplis and Muellerella isolates. We suggest
that the species Lichenodiplis lecanorae and Muellerella atricola represent, respectively, the
anamorphic and teleomorphic stages of the same fungus and discuss their relationships
with the other fungal families in Chaetothyriomycetidae