Fungalpedia – Note 3152, Clathroconium

 

Clathroconium Samson & H.C. Evans, Canadian Journal of Botany 60 (8): 1577 (1982).

Citation when using this data: Jian Ma et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.

Classification: Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.

Notes: Clathroconium was introduced and described by Samson and Evans (1982), with C. arachnicola as the type species based on its morphological characteristics, which include yellow-brown, solitary, clathroid, and helicoid conidia. Currently, Clathroconium comprises two species: C. arachnicola and C. caguanese (Index Fungorum 2024). Clathroconium arachnicola is a saprobic helicosporous hyphomycete found on spiders in Ghana (Samson and Evans 1982). Another asexual species, C. caguanese, was discovered in Theridion rufipes in Cuba (Mercado Sierra et al. 1988). Although both C. arachnicola and C. caguanese are classified under Clathroconium, they exhibit distinct conidial features. The conidia of C. arachnicola are clathroid, helicoid, globose to ellipsoid, and yellow-brown while those of C. caguanese are irregularly spiral, subhyaline to olivaceous (Samson and Evans 1982; Mercado Sierra et al. 1988). Several previous authors placed the genera Clathrosphaerina, Clathroconium, Pseudoclathrosphaerina and Sympodioclathra in the helicosporous group based on their clathroid conidia (Van Beverwijk 1951; Samson and Evans 1982; Voglmayr and Krisai-Greilhuber 1997). However, the type species of Clathrosphaerina, Pseudoclathrosphaerina and Sympodioclathra are all aero-aquatic fungi, and their helicosporous conidia have not been observed (Van Beverwijk 1951; Samson and Evans 1982; Voglmayr and Krisai-Greilhuber 1997). For instance, the conidia of Pseudoclathrosphaerina differs from those of Clathroconium in producing nonclathrate globose conidia through repeated dichotomously branched conidial filament (Voglmayr and Krisai-Greilhuber 1997; Cooper 2005). Sympodioclathra differs as it produces fuscous conidia with many overlying sheaths (Voglmayr and Krisai-Greilhuber 1997). Clathrosphaerina can also be distinguished from Clathroconium by hyaline and spherical networks of conidia through repeated forking and fork tips (Van Beverwijk 1951). Therefore, based on the branching pattern of their conidia, we exclude Clathrosphaerina, Pseudoclathrosphaerina, and Sympodioclathra from the helicosporous taxa, and suggest classifying them within the Staurosporae.

Type species: Clathroconium arachnicola Samson & H.C. Evans, Canadian Journal of Botany 60 (8): 1577 (1982).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Clathroconium.

Figure 1 – (a) Circinoconiopsis amazonica (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (b) Circinoconis paradoxa (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (c) Clathroconium arachnicola (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (d) Curculiospora sydowii (redrawn from Arnaud (1954)).

 

References

Mercado Sierra A, Alayo Soto R, Mena Portales J, de Armas L. 1988 – Hongos entomógenos de Cuba. Nueva especie de Clathroconium sobre arañas. Acta Botánica Cubana 56:1–5.

Samson RA, Evans HC. 1982 – Clathroconium, a new helicosporous hyphomycete genus from spiders. Canadian Journal of Botany 60(8):1577–1580.

Van Beverwijk AL. 1951 – Zalewski’s ‘Clathrosphaera spirifera’. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 34(3):280–290.

Voglmayr H, Fisher PJ. 1997 – Helicodendron fuscum and its allies. Mycological Research 101(9):1122–1126.

Cooper JA. 2005 – New Zealand hyphomycete fungi: additional records, new species, and notes on interesting collections. New Zealand Journal of Botany 43(1):323–349.

 

Entry by

Jian Ma, School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang 550003, P.R. 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.

 

Published online 10 September 2026

 

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