Fungalpedia – Note 2066, Delitschiaceae
Delitschiaceae. M.E. Barr.
Citation when using this data: Hongsanan S et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank
Classification: Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic or hypersaprobic on old herbivore dung, or rarely on aged exposed wood or plants. Colonies solitary or scattered, sometimes gregarious, immersed to erumpent, brown or black. Sexual morph: Ascomata immersed to erumpent, globose to subglobose, or pyriform, brown or black, solitary or scattered, uni-locular pseudothecia, membranous to coriaceous, with a papilla or a well differentiated ostiole. Peridium pseudoparenchymatous exostratum, consists with textura angularis cells. Hamathecium comprising long, branch, anastomosing, cellular or trabeculate pseudoparaphyses. Asci 2(4)–8-spored, mostly 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to cylindric-clavate, pedicellate, with a J–, refractive apical apparatus. Ascospores 1–2-seriate, rarely 3-seriate, ovoid or ellipsoid, pale to dark brown, unicellular or 2- to multi-cellular, often constricted at the septum, resulting in fragmenting cells, smooth-walled, with a full-length germ slit in each cell, surrounded by a gel coat. Asexual morph: Undetermined.
Notes – This family was introduced to accommodate three genera of Sporormiaceae that had periphysate ostiolum and asci with a well-developed and refractive ocular chamber (Barr 2000). Hyde et al. (2013) mentioned that Delitschiaceae has cellular pseudoparaphyses, while Ohleriella and Semidelitschia have trabeculate pseudoparaphyses (Zhang et al. 2012b). We could not see images of hamathecium of these two genera clearly. Thus, future work is needed to confirm that genera in Delitschiaceae have cellular or trabeculate pseudoparaphyses. The families Delitschiaceae, Phaeotrichaceae and Sporormiaceae subdivided by Barr (2000) based on morphological evidence and later Kruys et al. (2006) and Schoch et al. (2009a) confirmed them as three families based on the multi-gene phylogeny. Morphologically this family has periphysate ostiole, wide ascus endotunica, conspicious apical ring and heavily pigmented 1- to multi-septate ascospore with germ slits in each cell (Barr 2000). Hyde et al. (2013) and Wijayawardene et al. (2018) accepted three genera Delitschia, Ohleriella and Semidelitschia in this family.
Type genus: Delitschia Auersw.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Delitschiaceae.
References
Barr ME. 2000 – Notes on coprophilous bitunicate Ascomycetes. Mycotaxon 76, 105–112.
Zhang Y, Crous PW, Schoch CL, Hyde KD. 2012b – Pleosporales. Fungal Diversity 53, 1–221.
Entry by
Sinang Hongsanan, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Plant Epigenetics, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Microbial Genetic Engineering, College of Life Science and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People’s Republic of China, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50002, Thailand
Published online 23 March 2026