Table 1.

Major circumscription changes of Pleosporales from 1955 to 2011

References	Circumscription of Pleosporales
Luttrell 1955	Pleospora-type centrum development.
Müller and von Arx 1962	Ascomata perithecoid, with rounded or slit-like ostiole; asci produced within a locule, arranged regularly in a single layer or irregularly scattered, surrounded with filiform pseudoparaphyses, cylindrical, ellipsoidal or sac-like.
Luttrell 1973	Ascocarps perithecioid, immersed, erumpent to superficial on various substrates, asci ovoid to mostly clavate or cylindrical, interspersed with pseudoparaphyses (sometimes form an epithecium) in mostly medium- to large-sized locules.
Barr 1979a	Saprobic, parasitic, lichenized or hypersaprobic. Ascomata perithecioid, rarely cleistothecioid or hysterothecioid, peridium pseudoparenchymatous, pseudoparaphyses cellular, narrow or broad, deliquescing early at times, not forming an epithecium, asci oblong, clavate or cylindrical, interspersed with pseudoparaphyses, ascospores mostly asymmetric.
Barr 1987b	Saprobic, biotrophic or hemibiotrophic. Ascomata globose, subglobose or conical, asci bitunicate, oblong, clavate or cylindrical, cellular pseudoparaphyses, ascospores hyaline or pigmented, asymmetric or symmetric, with or without septa.
Kirk et al. 2001, 2008	Ascomata perithecial or rarely cleistothecial, sometimes clypeate, mostly globose, thick-walled, immersed or erumpent, black, sometimes setose, peridium composed of pseudoparenchymatous cells, pseudoparaphyses trabeculate or cellular, asci cylindrical, fissitunicate, with a well-developed ocular chamber, rarely with a poorly defined ring (J-), ascospores hyaline to brown, septate, thin or thick-walled, sometimes muriform, usually with sheath, anamorphs hyphomycetous or coelomycetous.
Boehm et al. 2009a, b; Mugambi and Huhndorf 2009b; Schoch et al. 2009; Shearer et al. 2009; Suetrong et al. 2009; Tanaka et al. 2009; Zhang et al. 2009a	Hemibiotrophic, saprobic, hypersaprobic, or lichenized. Habitats in freshwater, marine or terrestrial environment. Ascomata perithecioid, rarely cleistothecioid, immersed, erumpent to superficial, globose to subglobose, or lenticular to irregular, with or without conspicuous papilla or ostioles. Ostioles with or without periphyses. Peridium usually composed of a few layers of cells with various shapes and structures. Hamathecium persistent, filamentous, very rarely decomposing. Asci bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical, clavate to obclavate, with or without pedicel. Ascospores hyaline or pigmented, ellipsoidal, broadly to narrowly fusoid or filiform, mostly septate.