Fungalpedia – Note 97 Comoclathris
Comoclathris Clem.
Citation when using this entry: Bhagya et al., in prep – Fungalpedia, grass and wetland fungi. Mycosphere.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig. 1
Comoclathris belongs to the family Diademaceae, order Pleosporales. Comoclathris was introduced by Clements in 1909 (Lumbsch & Huhndorf 2007). Comoclathris is a common genus associated with grasses. Ariyawansa et al. (2014) classified this genus under the order Pleosporales using morphology and a phylogenetic approach based on LSU and SSU sequence data. Members of Comoclathris are mainly saprobic on the wood and stems of plants (Ariyawansa et al. 2014). Comoclathris arrhenatheri was recorded on dead aerial tissues of Arrhenatherum elatius from Italy (Thambugala et al. 2017). The ascomata of Comoclathris are scattered or loosely aggregated on host plants. The ascomata are leathery, black and usually immersed with a circular aperture on the globose ascomata. The hamathecium is very dense and hyaline. Asci are bitunicate, eight spored, cylindrical or clavate with ocular chambers (Ariyawansa et al. 2014). Ascospores are brown or reddish brown and oblong, tapering to the tips forming a fusiform shape. They are surrounded by a transparent gelatinous sheath. The type species Comoclathris lanata shares some morphological characteristics with Pleospora herbarum, but C. lanata differs by having a circular ascomata openings, superficial ascomata and gelatinous sheaths on the ascospores (Ariyawansa et al. 2014).
Type species Comoclathris lanata Clem.
Other accepted species: see Species Fungorum, search Comoclathris for names.
Figure 1 – Comoclathris lanata (COLO 62872, holotype) a Cross section of ascoma. b Ascus. c Ascospore with mucilaginous sheath. Scale bars: a = 40 µm, b = 20 µm, c = 10 µm, redrawn from Ariyawansa et al. (2014).
References
Ariyawansa HA, Phookamsak R, Tibpromma S, Kang JC, Hyde KD. 2014 – A molecular and morphological reassessment of Diademaceae. Fungal Diversity 2014, 1–12.
Liu JK, Phookamsak R, Jones EG, Zhang Y et al. 2011 – Astrosphaeriella is polyphyletic, with species in Fissuroma gen. nov., and Neoastrosphaeriella gen. nov. Fungal Diversity 51, 135–154.
Thambugala KM, Wanasinghe DN, Phillips AJL, Camporesi E et al. 2017 – Mycosphere notes 1–50: grass (Poaceae) inhabiting Dothideomycetes. Mycosphere 8, 697–796.
Entry by
Bhagya AT, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
(Edited by Chayanard Phukhamsakda & Kevin D. Hyde)