Fungalpedia – Note 2754, Apodospora
Apodospora. Cain & J.H. Mirza, Can. J. Bot.
Citation when using this data: Huang SK et al. 2021 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Bombardiaceae, Sordariales, Sordariomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Coprophilous or saprobic on wood. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial, gregarious to scattered, immersed to semi-immersed, globose to subglobose, dark brown to black, glabrous or hairy. Peridium membranaceous, composed of hyaline to brown cells of textura angularis to textura prismatica. Paraphyses numerous, filiform, septate, evanescent. Asci 8-spored, unitunicate, ellipsoidal, pedicellate, blunt at the apex. Ascospores oval to ellipsoidal, aseptate, brown to dark brown, verrucose, surrounded by gelatinous sheath, usually with an apical invagination. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Mycelium grey-brown, with numerous phialides scattered on hyphae. Conidia small, ovate masses on the apex of the phialides (adapted from Cain and Mirza 1969).
Notes: Cain and Mirza (1969) introduced Apodospora typified by A. simulans, which has oblong to ellipsoidal ascospores surrounded by a gelatinous sheath and oval to globose small conidia masses on the phialides. This genus resembles Sordaria in having ascospores surrounded by a gelatinous sheath (Cain and Mirza 1969). Six species are accommodated in this genus (Cain and Mirza 1969; Lundqvist 1972; Fakirova 1973; Muroi et al. 1987), and A. gotlandica, A. peruviana, and A. simulans have molecular data (Kruys et al. 2014). In this study, Apodospora species clustered in Bombardiaceae in the phylogenetic analysis (100%ML/1.00PP).
Type species: Apodospora simulans Cain & J.H. Mirza, Can. J. Bot. 48(5): 891 (1970).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Apodospora.
Figure 1 – Apodospora simulans: a (redrawn from Cain and Mirza 1969); b–k (S-F 122911). a Conidophores with conidia. b Herbarium material. c Ascomata on host. d Ascoma in cross section. e Peridium. f, g Asci (enlarged: apical ring). h–k Ascospores. Notes: Fig d–k are stained in KOH. Scale bars: a = 10 µm, c = 500 µm, d = 200 µm, e–g = 50 µm, h–k = 20 µm.
References
Cain RF, Mirza JH 1969 – Apodospora, a new genus of the Sordariaceae. Can J Bot 4(5):891–896.
Fakirova 1973 – In: Dokl. Bolgarskoi Akademii Nauk, Biol 26(4):526.
Lundqvist N 1972 – Nordic Sordariaceae s. lat. Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses 20:1–374.
Muroi T, Udagawa S-I, Otani Y 1987 – Some coprophilous ascomycetes from Peru. In: Inoue H (ed) Studies on cryptogams in Southern Peru. Tokai University Press, Tokyo.
Entry by
Shi-Ke Huang, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China, The Engineering Research Center of Southwest Bio-Pharmaceutical Resources, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, Guizhou Province, 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, The Mushroom Research Centre, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Published online 18 June 2026