Fungalpedia – Note 84 Asterosporium
Asterosporium Kunze
Citation when using this entry: Senanayake et al., in prep – Fungalpedia, Diaporthomycetidae. Mycosphere.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Asterosporium was introduced by Kunze (1819) based on A. hoffmannii Pers. Hughes (1958), regarded Stilbospora asterosperma Pers. as the older name for this taxon based on morphology. Thus, a new combination, Asterosporium asterospermum (Pers.) S. Hughes was proposed. Further, A. asterospermum and A. hoffmannii are phylogenetically identical according to molecular analysis (Hyde et al. 2020). Asterosporium species were previously assigned to Sordariomycetes genera incertae sedis based on molecular phylogeny (Tanaka et al. 2010). However, Wijayawardene et al. (2016) showed that Asterosporium species are related to Diaporthales based on a combined ITS and LSU sequence analyses and they placed the genus in Diaporthales genera incertae sedis (Norphanphoun et al. 2016, Jayawardena et al. 2018). Senanayake et al. (2017a) introduced Asterosporiaceae (Diaporthales) to accommodate Asterosporium species. Asterosporium species are distinct from other genera of Diaporthales in having star-like, brown conidia and acervular, subepidermal, erumpent, solitary or occasionally confluent conidiomata (Senanayake et al. 2018). Four species are listed in Species Fungorum. Most species of Asterosporium are saprobes on decaying wood of Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Juglandaceae and Sapindaceae (Wijayawardene et al. 2016) and have been recorded from twigs of Alnus and Betula as endophytes (Tanaka et al. 2010). Asterosporium asterospermum has been reported to cause cankers on Fagus crenata and F. sylvatica as a mild pathogen (Sieber 2007, Senanayake et al. 2017b) and also branch dieback of peach (Pirone 1978).
Type species: Asterosporium asterospermum (Pers.) S. Hughes
Other accepted species:
Asterosporium acerinum Wijayaw., Camporesi, McKenzie, K. Tanaka & K.D. Hyde
Asterosporium attenuatum Murvan. & Dekan
Asterosporium strobilorum Roum. & Fautrey
Figure 1 – Asterosporium asterospermum (Specimen examined – Italy, Forlì-Cesena Province, Santa Sofia, near Passo la Calla, on dead branch of Fagus sylvatica (Fagaceae), 29 September 2012, E. Camporesi, IT 805, MFLU 15-3555, HKAS 92536). a Conidiomata on host substrate. b, c Vertical sections of conidiomata. d-h Different stages of conidiogenesis. i-m Conidia. Scale bars: a = 1 mm, b = 400 μm, c = 50 μm, d-h = 20 μm, i-m = 30 μm.
References
Kunze G. 1819 – Flora oder Botanische Zeitung: welche Recensionen, Abhandlungen, Aufsätze, Neuigkeiten und Nachrichten, die Botanik betreffend, enthält. Regensburg 2, 1–758.
Hughes SJ. 1958 – Revisiones hyphomycetum aliquot cum appendice de nominibus rejiciendis. Canadian Journal of Botany 36, 726–836.
Jayawardena RS, Hyde KD, Chethana KWT, Daranagama DA et al. 2018 – Mycosphere Notes 102–168: Saprotrophic fungi on Vitis in China, Italy, Russia and Thailand. Mycosphere 9(1), 1–114
Norphanphoun C, Hongsanan S, Doilom M, Bhat DJ et al. 2016 – Lamproconiaceae fam. nov. to accommodate Lamproconium desmazieri. Phytotaxa 270 (2), 89–102.
Pirone PP. 1978 – Diseases and pests of ornamental plants. Wiley Interscience Publication.
Senanayake IC, Al-Sadi AM, Bhat JD, Camporesi E et al. 2016 – Phomatosporales ord. nov. and Phomatosporaceae fam. nov., to accommodate Lanspora, Phomatospora and Tenuimurus, gen. nov. Mycosphere 7 (5): 628–641.
Tanaka K, Mel’nik VA, Kamiyama M et al. 2010 – Molecular phylogeny of two coelomycetous fungal genera with stellate conidia, Prosthemium and Asterosporium, on Fagales trees. Botany 88, 1057–1071.
Entry by
Indunil C. Senanayake, Innovative Institute for Plant Health/ Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510225, Guangdong, China.
(Edited by Kevin D. Hyde)