Fungalpedia – Note 1010, Cyphellophora
Cyphellophora. G.A. de Vries.
Citation when using this data: Tian Q et al. 2021 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank., Fig 1
Classification: Cyphellophoraceae, Chaetothyriales, Chaetothyriomycetidae, Eurotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Epiphytic, saprobic and pathogenic on a range of hosts worldwide. Colonies mostly growing slowly, pale grey-brown in the center, loose, cottony, woolly-velvety, margin entire, flat, straight or sharp, dark brown to olivaceous black, reverse olivaceous black, somewhat moist. Vegetative hyphae hyaline initially, pale brown in older hyphae, septate, constrictions at the septa, straight or undulate, smooth-walled, guttulate or aguttulate, with or without oil droplets. Sexual morph: Ascomata scattered, subglobose to globose, dark brown, glabrous, thick-walled, ostiolate or ostiole inconspicuous, with or without dark superficial hyphae. Wall of ascoma multi-layered, comprising brown to hyaline cells of textura angularis and textura globulosa. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, ellipsoidal to cylindrical, ovoid to ampulliform, with a short pedicel. Ascospores 2–3-seriate, ellipsoidal to fusiform, hyaline, 1–3 septate, not constricted at the septa, narrowly rounded at the ends, with or without a guttule in each cell (Yang et al. 2018, Phookamsak et al. 2019). Asexual morph: Hyphomyctous. Conidiophores absent or rarely reduced to a short cell, basal to the conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells enteroblastic, phialidic. short cylindrical to flask-shaped, intercalary, lateral or terminal, sometimes arising at short side branches of hyphae, with indistinct sessile collarettes or short and flaring to funnel-shaped collarettes, sub-hyaline to pale olivaceous brown, producing subsequent conidia in more or less sympodial order, thin-walled. Conidia aggregated, oblong-fusoid or oblong-ovoid, 1–multi-septate, constrictioned at the septa, hyaline to brown, straight or curved, smooth-walled, guttulate or aguttulate, with or without oil droplets, without a gelatinous sheath or appendages. Spermatial state absent. Chlamydospores absent (de Vries 1962, Feng et al. 2014).
Notes – Cyphellophora G.A. de Vries is widespread and is ecologically important. Species of Cyphellophora comprise; (1) mostly human and animal pathogens, such as
C. laciniata G.A. de Vries (type species), C. europaea (de Hoog, Mayser & Haase) Réblová & Unter. and C. pluriseptata G.A. de Vries which were isolated from nails or skin of humans
(de Vries 1962, de Hoog et al. 2000a, Feng et al. 2012, 2014), C. phyllostachysdis G.Y.
Sun & Liu Gao, C. europaea, from a human or mammal eyes, resulting in infection of hyperkeratosis (de Hoog et al. 2000a); (2) saprobes, such as C. filici isolated from dead fronds of a fern, without superficial dark hyphae (Phookamsak et al. 2019), C. oxyspora (W. Gams) Réblová & Unter. isolated from a decaying leaf of Clerodendron monahassa (Vu et al. 2019); (3) epiphytes, such as C. jingdongensis which can reduce photosynthesis, but does not cause plant disease (Chomnunti et al. 2014, Yang et al. 2018), and (4) plant pathogens, such as
C. phyllostachysdis G.Y. Sun & Liu Gao and C. sessilis (de Hoog) Réblová & Unter. causing sooty blotch and flyspeck disease of bamboo, resulting in economic damage (de Hoog et al. 2000, Decock et al. 2003, Zhuang et al. 2010, Gleason et al. 2011, Gao et al. 2015).
To date, 26 species are accepted in Cyphellophora, with two sexual morph species,
C. jingdongensis isolated from living leaves of Alnus nepalensis (Yang et al. 2018) and C. filici isolated on dead fronds of a fern (Phookamsak et al. 2019). There are nine species reported from plant material, namely as C. artocarpi G.Y. Sun & Liu Gao, C. filici, C. guyanensis Decock & G. Delgado, C. jingdongensis, C. musae, C. olivacea (W. Gams) Réblová & Unter., C. oxyspora,
C. phyllostachydis and C. sessilis (Gams & Holubová-Jechová 1976, de Hoog et al. 1999, Decock et al. 2003, Gao et al. 2015, Yang et al. 2018, Phookamsak et al. 2019).
The asexual morphs of Cyphellophora are recognized as black yeasts which are difficult to identify solely based on morphology. Cyphellophora resembles black yeasts, such as Phialophora Medlar and Pseudomicrodochium B. Sutton, but they differ from each other in having different conidia and thallus colours (Decock et al. 2003, de Hoog et al. 2011, Réblová et al. 2013). Thus, a combination of morphology, ecological traits and phylogenetic analyses provide accurate generic and species delimitation in Cyphellophora. Phylogenetic studies have shown that Cyphellophora clustered in a well-supported clade within Chaetothyriales (Feng et al. 2014, Gao et al. 2015, Yang et al. 2018, Phookamsak et al. 2019).
Type species: Cyphellophora laciniata G.A. de Vries.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Cyphellophora.
Figure 1 – Cyphellophora laciniata (Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, holotype, redrawn from de Vries 1962). a–e Conidiogenous cells with conidia. f Conidia. Scale bar: 20 μm.
References
Entry by
Qing Tian, 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 16 December 2021