Morphological studies in Dothideomycetes: Elsinoe (Elsinoaceae), Butleria, and three excluded genera

The types of the genera Beelia, Butleria, Elsinoe, Hyalotheles, and Saccardinula were examined to revise their familial position. The family Elsinoaceae (type: Elsinoe canavaliae) is described and its separation from Myriangiaceae is supported. Butleria inaghatahani has characters similar to Elsinoaceae where it should remain. Beelia suttoniae appears to be a superficial biotroph on the surface of leaves and thus Beelia should be placed in Chaetothyriaceae and is most similar to Ainsworthia (=Phaeosaccardinula). Apart from the oblong to ovoid sessile asci in Hyalotheles dimerosperma, its placement in Elsinoaceae seems unwarranted, and Hyalotheles should be placed in Dothideomycetes incertae sedis. Saccardinula guaranitica may be better placed in Microthyriaceae or Brefeldiellaceae, because its ascomata greatly resemble thyrothecia found in Microthyriaceae and have similarities with Brefeldiella. Molecular sequence data from fresh collections is required to solve the problem of familial placement.