Fungalpedia – Note 2624, Ampullifera
Ampullifera Deighton.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Dothideomycetes genera incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.
=Ampulliferella Bat. & Cavalc. Type: A. amoeboides
=Ampulliferopsis Bat. & Cavalc. Type: A. myriapoda, i.e. A. amoeboides
=Teratoschaeta Bat. & O.M. Fonseca Type: T. rondoniensis, i.e. A. amoeboides
Ampullifera was established by Deighton (1960) to accommodate the type species A. foliicola Deighton and other two species, A. ugandensis Deighton and A. leonensis Deighton, most of which are associated with foliicolous lichens. This genus is characterized by superficial mycelium, lateral mucronate ampulliform hyphopodia, olivaceous, straight, septate conidiophores, and olivaceous, catenulate, ellipsoid conidia without a true hilum (Deighton 1960).
Deighton et al. (1965) later introduced Ampullifera brasiliensis Deighton, a species found on foliicolous lichens on Gustavia augusta. However, this species was later considered synonymous with A. hippocrateacearum. Hawksworth (1979a) described a new species, Ampullifera pirozynskii, and made two new combinations: A. amoeboides (formerly Ampulliferella amoeboides Bat. & Cavalc.) and A. hippocrateacearum (formerly Ampulliferopsis hippocrateacearum Bat. & Cavalc.). Since Ampulliferopsis myriapoda, the type species of Ampulliferopsis, was combined with A. amoeboides, the genus was considered synonymous with Ampullifera. Similarly, as Ampulliferella amoeboides, the type species of Ampulliferella, was transferred, Ampulliferella was also considered synonymous with Ampullifera (Hawksworth 1979a).
Locquin (1984) established Ampulliferaceae to accommodate Ampullifera. However, Sandoval-Denis et al. (2015) transferred Ampullifera seudatica to Acrophialophora after uploading some sequences of this species. Thus, the systematic status of Ampullifera and Ampulliferaceae remains unclear, and further studies based on molecular data are needed. To date, seven species are listed in the Index Fungorum (2025), six of which are lichenicolous fungi, but no sequence data are available in GenBank.
Type species: Ampullifera foliicola Deighton.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Ampullifera.
Figure 1 – Ampullifera foliicola redrawn from Deighton (1960). a Mycelium with hyphopodia. b Hyphopodia showing a hyaline feeding hypha. c Hyphopodiate mycelium bearing a simple and a penicillately branched conidiophore. d Germinating conidium. e Apical portion of a conidiophore. f Conidiophores. g Conidia.
References
Deighton FC. 1960 – African fungi. I. Mycological Papers 78, 1–43.
Deighton FC, Pirozynski KA. 1965 – Microfungi. I: African species of Uncinula; some species of Fusicladiella; various hyphomycetes, mainly tropical. Mycological Papers (101), 28–43.
Hawksworth DL. 1979a – The lichenicolous hyphomycetes. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Botany 6 (3), 183–300.
Locquin M 1984 – Mycologie générale et structurale. Elsevier Masson, 1–551.
Entry by
Meng QF, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand and School of Public Health, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou 563000, China.
Published online 23 June 2026