Fungalpedia – Note 556, Completoria

 

Completoria Lohde, Tagebl. Versamm. dt. naturf. Ärzte (Breslau)

Citation when using this data: Zhang et al. 2025 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Entomophthoromycota.

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

Classification: Completoriaceae, Entomophthorales, Incertae sedis, Entomophthoromycetes, Entomophthoromycotina, Entomophthoromycota, Fungi

Completoria was proposed by Lohde (1874) within the monotypic family Completoriaceae (Humber 1989). The morphological characteristics of the monotypic genus Completoria are simple, with apparently botryose, protoplastic vegetative growth, large nuclei filled with condensed chromatin at interphase, simple conidiophores arising from vegetative cells, subglobose conidia, and globose resting spores (Atkinson 1894, 1895; Humber 1989). These characteristics are similar to some entomopathogenic fungi (Humber 2016). Completoria complens is considered to be a rare species and an interesting obligate intracellular parasite of fern prothallia, with a unique ecology that has only been observed in greenhouse cultures (Atkinson 1894; Humber 1989; Gryganskyi et al. 2013). A comprehensive investigation of this species was carried out by Klasse (1881), who grew it in the fern prothallia of a large variety of species (Klasse 1881). Molecular data is unavailable for this genus and it is placed in Completoriaceae, Entomophthorales, Entomophthoromycetes, Entomophthoromycotina, Entomophthoromycota (Hyde et al. 2024c).

Type species: Completoria complens Lohde.

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Completoria.

 

 image

Figure 1 – Completoria complens in cells of fern gametophyte. a Host cell invaded with resting spores of Completoria complens. b Two young plants in one host cell, having entered from an adjacent cell. c Fungus body in the host, with peripheral cells that develop tube penetrating adjacent cells of the fern prothallium. d The binucleate mature, thick-walled resting spores. Redrawn from Humber (2016) and the website of Alamy (https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/adjacent-cellshtml/?sortBy=relevant)

 

References

Atkinson GF 1895 – A potting bed fungus new to America. Bull NY Agric Exp Sta 94:252–260.

Atkinson GF 1894 – Completoria complens Lohde. Bot Gaz 19:467–468.

Gryganskyi A, Humber R, Smith M, Hodge K, Huang B, Voigt K, Vilgalys R 2013 –  Phylogenetic lineages in Entomophthoromycota. Persoonia 30:94–105.

Humber RA 1989 – Synopsis of a revised classification for the Entomophthorales (Zygomycotina). Mycotaxon (USA) 34:441–460.

Humber RA 2016 –  Entomophthoromycota: a new overview of some of the oldest terrestrial fungi. In: Li D-W (ed) Biology of micro fungi. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 127–145.

Hyde KD, et al. 2024c – The 2024 outline of fungi and fungus-like taxa. Mycosphere (in press).

Klasse AdWiWM-N 1881– Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Natur-wissenschaftlichen Classeder Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wis senschaften, Wien, 2Abt-82. Band, (Jahrgang 1880).

 

Entry by 

Jing-Yi Zhang, School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang, 550025, People’s Republic of 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, Guizhou Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, 550009, People’s Republic of China.

 

Published online 11 June 2025

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