Fungalpedia – Note 2697, Cecidioskyttea
Cecidioskyttea Etayo.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Helotiales genera incertae sedis, Leotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Cecidioskyttea was introduced by Etayo et al. (2004b) to accommodate the type species Cecidioskyttea osorioi, which induces gall formation on the thallus of Concamerella fistulata. These lichenicolous galls are black, superficial, convex, and warty, with a constricted base. The apothecia are immersed within the galls, closed, and feature a hyaline excipulum covered with olive-colored hairs. The paraphyses are filiform, simple, and septate. The asci are thin-walled, ellipsoidal to subcylindrical, eight-spored, and non-reactive to iodine (KI-negative). The ascospores are hyaline, ellipsoidal to fusiform, non-septate, and contain two guttules. Pycnidia are also immersed and occur interspersed with the apothecia. The conidiogenous cells are holoblastic, producing curved or sigmoidal, hyaline, smooth-walled conidia with 0–5 septa (Etayo et al. 2004b).
Etayo et al. (2004b) placed Cecidioskyttea within Helotiales based on several characteristics: its non-cleistohymenial apothecia, exciple with setae, hymenium with simple paraphyses, thin-walled unitunicate asci that are KI-negative, and simple ascospores. Morphologically, Cecidioskyttea shares similarities with Rhymbocarpus Zopf, another genus with perithecioid, immersed apothecia (Diederich et al. 2000a). However, Cecidioskyttea is differentiated by its unique gall formation, the coexistence of ascomata and conidiomata, and distinct conidia that set it apart from Rhymbocarpus (Etayo et al. 2004b).
Cecidioskyttea is a monotypic genus, with no molecular sequence data available in GenBank.
Type species: Cecidioskyttea osorioi Etayo, on Concamerella fistulata (Etayo et al. 2004b)
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Cecidioskyttea.
Figure 1 – Cecidioskyttea osorioi redrawn from Etayo et al. (2004b) a Two black galls on the thallus of Concamerella. b Sections of a conidioma with the excipular setae covering the disc and the conidial structure. c Conidia and conidial cells. d Asci and paraphyses. e Ascospores. Scale bars: a = 100 μm, b = 20 μm, c, d = 10 μm, e = 5 μm.
References
Diederich P, Etayo J. 2000a – A synopsis of the genera Skyttea, Llimoniella and Rhymbocarpus (lichenicolous Ascomycota, Leotiales). Lichenologist 32 (5), 423–485.
Etayo J, Osorio HS. 2004b – Algunos hongos liquenícolas de Sudamérica, especialmente del Uruguay. Comunicaciones Botanicas Museo Nacional de Historia Natural Natural y Antropologia 6 (129), 1–19.
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 16 July 2026