Fungalpedia – Note 187 Dicellaesporites (Fossil Fungi)

 

Dicellaesporites Elsik.

Citation when using this data: Saxena RK & Hyde KD. 2024 (in prep) – Fungalpedia, Fossil Fungi. 

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

Classification: Didymosporae, Fossil Fungi.

The monotypic fossil genus Dicellaesporites was described by Elsik (1968) from the Paleocene sediments (66–56 mya) in a strip mine approximately 11 km southwest of Rockdale, Milam County, Texas, USA and was diagnosed as: Inaperturate, psilate fungal spores, with two cells, uniseptate, exhibiting variable shapes. Sheffy & Dilcher (1971) emended the diagnosis as follows: Inaperturate fungal spores or algal bodies with psilate to scabrate sculpture. Norris (1986) also emended the diagnosis to characterize dicellate, inaperturate, isopolar, equilateral fungal spores. Spore wall levigate to scabrate.

Kalgutkar & Jansonius (2000) stated that dicellate aporate spores may be isopolar with equilaterally exactly similar cells, but many are not even on the same mycelium. For example, in D. paradoxus P. Ke & Z.Y. Shi 1978, D. inaequabilis Mart.-Hern. & Tom. -Ort. (1989), D. keralensis P. Kumar (1990), the spores are aporate and dicellate with unequal cells. 

Type species: Dicellaesporites popovii Elsik.

 

 

Figure 1 – Dicellaesporites popovii. Scale bar = 10 μm. Redrawn from Elsik (1968).

 

References

Elsik WC. 1968 – Palynology of a Paleocene Rockdale lignite, Milam County, Texas. I. Morphology and taxonomy. Pollen et Spores 10, 263–314.

Kalgutkar RM, Jansonius J. 2000 – Synopsis of fungal spores, mycelia and fructifications. AASP Contribution Series 39, 1–423. 

Kumar P. 1990 – Fungal remains from the Miocene Quilon beds of Kerala State, South India. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 63, 13–28. 

Martínez-Hernández E, Tomasini-Ortiz AC. 1989 – Spores, hyphae and other fungal remains from the Fuentes-Rio Escondino Carboniferous basin (Campanian-Maastrichtian), Coahuila State, Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Geologia, Revista 8, 235–242. 

Norris G. 1986 – Systematic and stratigraphic palynology of Eocene to Pliocene strata in the Imperial Nuktak C-22 well, Mackenzie Delta Region, District of Mackenzie, N.W.T. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, Bulletin 340, 89 p.

Sheffy MV, Dilcher DL. 1971 – Morphology and taxonomy of fungal spores. Palaeontographica, Abt. B 133, 34–51.

 

Entry by

Ramesh K. Saxena, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India

 

(Edited by Kevin D. Hyde, Samaneh Chaharmiri-Dokhaharani, & Achala R. Rathnayaka)

Published online 31 January 2024

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