Fungalpedia – Note 604, Halbania
Halbania Racib.
Citation when using this data: D. S. Marasinghe et al. 2023 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.
Classification: Asterinaceae, Asterinales, Dothideomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Epiphytic on leaves appearing as blackened dots. Superficial hyphae septate, brown, branched, irregular, lack of appressoria, hypostroma present. Sexual morph: Thyriothecia superficial, scattered, dimidiate, rounded to oval or elongated, flattened, brown to black, opening by star-shaped or irregular fissures. Upper wall comprising an irregular arrangement of dark cells, cells at margin branching and forming superficial hyphae, basal peridium poorly developed. Hamathecium lacking pseudoparaphyses or filamentous interascal tissue. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, thick-walled, saccate to obovoid, sometimes globose, apedicellate or short pedicellate, apical region of asci usually with a thick opaque region, ocular chamber not apparent, arranged vertically in thyriothecia. Ascospores 2–3-seriate, fusiform or ellipsoidal, brown, 3-septate, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Undetermined (Hofmann 2010; Hongsanan et al. 2014a).
Notes: Halbania was established by Raciborski (1899) and Luttrell (1973) placed this genus in Asterinaceae based on its 3-septate, brown ascospores and thyriothecia. Halbania is mostly similar to Batistinula in having 3-septate ascospores, but it lacks appressoria on the hyphae. Halbania also resembles Halbanina by the lack of appressoria but it forms surface mycelia that exclusively penetrate the host stomata (Arnaud 1918; Hofmann 2010). However, Halbania has 3-septate ascospores, while Asterina has 1-septum ascospores (Hofmann 2010). The placement of Halbania in Asterinaceae is confusing due to the superficial hyphae of lacking appressoria, thus, more collections and sequence data are needed to confirm its placement. In this paper, we redrawn Halbania cyathearum from Arnaud (1918).
Type species: Halbania cyathearum Racib., Crypt. Par. Java: no. 89 (1889).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Halbania.
References
Arnaud G 1918 – Les Astérinées. Annales de l’école Nationale d’agriculture de Montpellier 16:1.
Hofmann TA 2010 – PhD thesis. The faculty of biological sciences at the J.W. Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany,p 408.
Hongsanan S, Li YM, Liu JK et al 2014a – Revision of genera in Asterinales. Fungal Divers 68:1–68.
Luttrell ES 1973 – Loculoascomycetes. In: Ainsworth GC, Sparrow FK, Sussman AS (eds) The fungi. An advanced treatise, a taxonomic review with keys: Ascomycetes and fungi imperfecti. Academic Press, New York, pp 135–219.
Raciborski 1899 – Halbania. Crypt. Par. Java 89.
Entry by
Diana Sandamali Marasinghe, 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, Mushroom Research Foundation, 128 M.3 Ban Pa Deng T. Pa Pae, A. Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai, 50150, Thailand
Published online 29 August 2023