The genus Monascus was described by van Tieghem (1884) to accommodate M. ruber and M. mucoroides, two species with non-ostiolate ascomata. Species delimitation in the genus is still mainly based on phenotypic characters, and taxonomic studies that include sequence data are limited. The genus is of economic importance. Species are used in fermented Asian foods as food colourants (e.g. ‘red rice’ (ang-kak, angka)) and found as spoilage organisms, and recently Monascus was found to be essential in the lifecycle of stingless bees. In this study, a polyphasic approach was applied combining morphological characters, ITS, LSU, β-tubulin, calmodulin and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit sequences and extrolite data, to delimit species and to study phylogenetic relationships in Monascus. Furthermore, 30 Monascus isolates from honey, pollen and nests of stingless bees in Brazil were included. Based on this polyphasic approach, the genus Monascus is resolved in nine species, including three new species associated with stingless bees (M. flavipigmentosus sp. nov., M. mellicola sp. nov., M. recifensis sp. nov., M. argentinensis, M. floridanus, M. lunisporas, M. pallens, M. purpureus, M. ruber), and split in two new sections (section Floridani sect. nov., section Rubri sect. nov.). Phylogenetic analysis showed that the xerophile Monascus eremophilus does not belong in Monascus and monophyly in Monascus is restored with the transfer of M. eremophilus to Penicillium (P. eremophilum comb. nov.). A list of accepted and excluded Monascus and Basipetospora species is given, together with information on (ex-)types cultures and barcode sequence data.

属红曲霉的是van曲霉（1884）中描述的，以适应M.曲霉和M. mucoroides，两个物种与非ostiolate ascomata。属中的物种划分仍主要基于表型特征，并且包括序列数据的分类学研究是有限的。该属具有经济重要性。物种在亚洲发酵食品中用作食用色素（例如“红米饭”（ang-kak，angka）），并被发现是腐败生物，最近又被用作红曲菌。被发现对无st蜜蜂的生命周期至关重要。在这项研究中，采用了一种多相方法，结合形态学特征，ITS，LSU，β-微管蛋白，钙调蛋白和RNA聚合酶II第二大亚基序列和外来体数据，来划定物种并研究红曲菌的系统发生关系。此外，还包括了从蜂蜜，花粉和无刺蜂巢中分离出的30种红曲菌。在此基础上多相方法，属红曲在九种解决，包括与无刺蜂（相关的三个新种M. flavipigmentosus属十一月，M. mellicola属十一月，M. recifensis属十一月，M.阿根廷，M. floridanus，M. lunisporas，M.蚊，红曲霉，M.曲霉），并分成两个新的区段（部分Floridani节十一月，部分Rubri节十一月）。系统发育分析表明，xerophile红曲霉eremophilus不属于在红曲霉和在单系红曲霉恢复用的转移M. eremophilus到青霉（P. eremophilum梳。十一月）。公认的和排除的红曲霉和Basipetospora列表 给出物种，以及（外）型培养物和条形码序列数据的信息。