Fungalpedia – Note 566, Melaniella

 

Melaniella R. Bauer, Vánky, Begerow & Oberw

Citation when using this data: Zhang et al. 2025 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Basidiomycota.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig. 1

Classification: Melaniellaceae, Doassansiales, Exobasidiomycetidae, Exobasidiomycetes, Ustilaginomycotina, Basidiomycota, Fungi

Melaniella was established in the monotypic family Melaniellaceae, Doassansiales, Exobasidiomycetes, Ustilaginomycotina, Basidiomycota (He et al. 2024) to accommodate two new combinations, M. oreophila and M. selaginellae, with the former serving as the type species (Bauer et al. 1999b). The genus features hyphae with clamps; simple septal pores with membrane caps, smooth spores embedded in the host tissue, holobasidia produced by single, pigmented teliospores, and spore germination with four ballistosporic basidiospores on sterigmata at the apex and two-celled basidiospores when mature (Warburg 1900; Sydow 1935; Bauer et al. 1999b; Vánky 2008). The two accepted species of Melaniella are reported as smut fungi causing leaf /stem damage to several collections of Selaginella spp. (Selaginellaceae) in India, Indonesia and Zimbabwe (Bauer et al. 1999b; McClymont et al. 2013b).

Type species: Melaniella oreophila (Syd.) R. Bauer, Vánky, Begerow & Oberw.

≡ Melanotaenium oreophilum Syd.

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Melaniella.

 

image

Figure 1 – Melaniella oreophila. a Sori of Melaniella oreophila as black, small spots on the leaves of Selaginella tenera. b Germinating spores of M. oreophila. c Spores. Redrawn from Vánky (2008).

 

References

Bauer R, Vánky K, Begerow D, Oberwinkler F 1999b – Ustilagino mycetes on Selaginella. Mycologia 91:475–484.

He MQ, Cao B, Liu F, Boekhout T, Denchev TT, Schoutteten N, Denchev CM, Kemler M, Gorjón SP, Begerow D, Valenzuela R, Davoodian N, Niskanen T, Vizzini A, Redhead SA, Ramírez-Cruz V, Papp V, Dudka VA, Dutta AK, García-Sandoval R, Liu X-Z, Kijpornyongpan T, Savchenko A, Tedersoo L, Theelen B, Trierveiler-Pereira L, Wu F, Carlos Zamora J, Zeng X-Y, Zhou L-W, Liu S-L, Ghobad-Nejhad M, Giachini AJ, Li G-J, Kakishima M, Olariaga I, Haelewaters D, Sulistyo B, Sugiyama J, Svantesson S, Yurkov A, Alvarado P, Antonín V, Felipe da Silva A, Druzhinina I, Gibertoni TB, Guzmán-Dávalos L, Justo A, Karunarathna SC, Galappaththi MCA, Toome-Heller M, Hosoya T, Liimatainen K, Márquez R, Mešić A, Moncalvo J-M, Nagy LG, Varga T, Orihara T, Raymundo T, Salcedo I, Silva-Filho AGS, Tkalčec Z, Wartchow F, Zhao C-L, Bau T, Cabarroi Hernández M, Cortés-Pérez A, Decock C, De Lange R, Weiß M, Menolli N Jr, Nilsson RH, Fan Y-G, Verbeken A, Gafforov Y, Meiras-Ottoni A, Mendes-Alvarenga RL, Zengm N-K, Wu Q, Hyde KD, Kirk PM, Zhao RL 2024 – Phylogenomics, divergence times and notes of orders in Basidiomycota. Fungal Divers 126:127–406. 

McClymont M, Waipara N, Nessia H 2013b – First record of Phoma selaginellicola on Selaginella kraussiana (African clubmoss): an invasive plant species in New Zealand. Plant Pathol Quar 3:140–144. 

Sydow H 1935 – Novae fungorum species – XXIII. Ann Mycol 33:367–384.

Vánky K 2008 – Smut fungi (Basidiomycota PP, Ascomycota PP) of the world. Novelties, selected examples, trends. Acta Microbiol Immunol Hung 55:91–109.

Warburg O 1900 – Monsunia: Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Vegetation des Sud-und Ostasiatischen Monsungebietes, vol 1. W. Engelmann.

 

Entry by 

Jing-Yi Zhang, School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang, 550025, People’s Republic of China, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand, Guizhou Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, 550009, People’s Republic of China.

 

Published online 11 June 2025

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