Fungalpedia – Note 2802, Appendicosporaceae
Appendicosporaceae. Samarak. & K.D. Hyde.
Citation when using this data: Samarakoon MC et al. 2021 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank
Classification: Appendicosporaceae, Amphisphaeriales, Xylariomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on dead rachis/fronds of palms and dicotyledonous twigs. Sexual morph: Ascomata immersed, under slightly raised areas, visible as brown or black dots, solitary or aggregated in clusters, in cross-section, conical to subglobose with mostly attened base. Ostioles centric, ostiolar canal periphysate or lled with white amorphous tissues. Peridium multi-layered, outer layer comprising brown, thick-walled, attened cells of textura angularis, inner layer composed of hyaline, thin-walled cells of textura angularis. Paraphyses wider at the base, septate, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, unitunicate, clavate to cylindrical, short pedicellate or sessile, lacking an apical ring, apically rounded. Ascospores uniseriate or 2–3-seriate, hyaline, clavate to broadly ellipsoidal, 1 septate, not constricted at septa, with or without appendages at one end. Asexual morph: Undetermined.
Notes: Appendicospora shares similar morphologies with Apiospora and Pseudomassaria with an uncertain taxonomic placement (Hyde 1995; Bahl 2006). Several morpho-phylo studies suggested that Appendicospora consistently grouped with Hyponectria and was best placed within the Hyponectriaceae, although further work to confirm the taxonomic placement was suggested (Wang and Hyde 1999; Smith et al. 2003; Bahl 2006)). The only available LSU sequence of Appendicospora sp. (HKUCC 1120) links the morphology and phylogeny of this group. Combined gene phylogeny in our study shows that Appendicospora forms a distinct clade to Apiosporaceae in Amphisphaeriales. In addition, an inconspicuous taxon introduced as Neoamphisphaeria in this study clustered with Appendicospora with high statistical support (100%/1.00 PP). Appendicosporaceae clustered in the clade comprising Anungitiomycetaceae, Iodosphaeriaceae and Pseudosporidesmiaceae with strong statistical support (95%). In addition, the divergence time estimates show that Appendicosporaceae has diverged at 89 (65–117) MYA (Amphisphaeriales), which is comparable with the common divergence trend in family level (50–150 MYA) as described in Hyde et al. (2017). Based on distinct morphologies, phylogeny and divergence time estimates, we introduce Appendicosporaceae with the type genus Appendicospora and tentatively accommodate Neoamphisphaeria.
Type genus: Appendicospora K.D. Hyde, Sydowia 47(1): 31 (1995)
References
Entry by
Milan C. Samarakoon, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Informational Biology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, P.R.
China
Published online 19 June 2026