Molecular and ultrastructural characterization of two ascomycetes found on sunken wood off Vanuatu Islands in the deep Pacific Ocean Joe ¨lle DUPONT a, *, Sandrine MAGNIN a , Florence ROUSSEAU b , Magali ZBINDEN c , Ghislaine FREBOURG c , Sarah SAMADI d , Bertrand RICHER de FORGES e , E. B. GARETH JONES f a De ´partement Syste ´matique & Evolution-UMR 7205, Muse ´um national d’histoire naturelle, CP 39, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France b De ´partement Syste ´matique & Evolution-UMR 7138, Muse ´um national d’histoire naturelle, CP 39, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France c UMR 7138 ‘‘Syste ´matique, Adaptation et Evolution’’, Universite ´ Pierre et Marie Curie, Case 5, 7 quai Saint Bernard, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France d De ´partement Syste ´matique & Evolution-UMR 7138, Muse ´um national d’histoire naturelle, CP 26, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France e Institut de Recherche pour le De ´veloppement-UMR 7138, BP A5, 98848 Noume ´a Cedex, Nouvelle-Cale ´donie, France f BIOTEC Central Research Unit, 113 Paholyothin Road, Khlong 1, Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand article info Article history: Received 22 May 2008 Received in revised form 27 April 2009 Accepted 25 August 2009 Available online 6 September 2009 Corresponding Editor: David Leslie Hawksworth Keywords: Alisea longicolla Ascomycota Ascosalsum Halosphaeriaceae Molecular systematics Oceanitis scuticella Ultrastructure abstract A new genus of a deep-sea ascomycete with one new species, Alisea longicolla, is described based on analyses of 18S and 28S rDNA sequences and morphological characters. A. long- icolla was found together with Oceanitis scuticella, on small twigs and sugar cane debris trawled from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off Vanuatu Islands. Molecular and morpho- logical characters indicate that both fungi are members of Halosphaeriaceae. Within this family, O. scuticella is phylogenetically related to Ascosalsum and shares similar ascospore morphology and appendage ontogeny. The genus Ascosalsum is considered congeneric with Oceanitis and Ascosalsum cincinnatulum, Ascosalsum unicaudatum and Ascosalsum viscid- ulum are transferred to Oceanitis, an earlier generic name. ª 2009 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ33 1 40 79 31 90; fax: þ33 1 40 79 35 94. E-mail address: jdupont@mnhn.fr journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mycres mycological research 113 (2009) 1351–1364 0953-7562/$ – see front matter ª 2009 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2009.08.015