Fungalpedia – Note 2437, Digitodesmium
Digitodesmium. P.M. Kirk.
Citation when using this data: Dong W et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Incertae sedis, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on submerged bamboo, wood in freshwater or decaying wood, soil in terrestrial habitats. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Conidiomata sporodochial, punctiform, pulvinate, scattered, pale brown to brown. Mycelium mostly immersed, composed of branched, septate, thin-walled, smooth, pale brown hyphae. Conidiophores semi-macronematous, mononematous, fasciculate, composed of moniliform, pale brown, septate, smooth hyphae. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, monoblastic, integrated, terminal, determinate, globose to doliiform, minutely cicatrized. Conidia acrogenous, solitary, dry, digitate, cheiroid, slightly divergent arms, euseptate, some with a hyaline gelatinous cap at the apex (Kirk 1981; Boonmee et al. 2016).
Notes: Digitodesmium is unique by its digitate conidia and moniliform conidiophores (Kirk 1981; Boonmee et al. 2016). Tsui et al. (2006a) indicated that Digitodesmium might be a synonym of Dictyosporium because the phylogenetic position of Digitodesmium was within Dictyosporium, but with low bootstrap support. A similar result was shown in Cai et al. (2008). Digitodesmium was distinguished from Dictyosporium by its divergent conidial arms which were considered as an artificial feature by Tsui et al. (2006a) and Cai et al. (2008). Boonmee et al. (2016) introduced family Dictyosporiaceae to accommodate most cheirosporous hyphomycete genera and accepted Digitodesmium as a distinct genus based on multigene phylogenetic analyses.
Three freshwater Digitodesmium species morphologically fit well with the generic concept of Digitodesmium in producing divergent conidial arms (Ho et al. 1999; Cai et al. 2002b, 2003b). The placement of D. heptasporum L. Cai & K. D. Hyde and D. recurvum W. H. Ho et al. needs to be confirmed with molecular data.
Type species: Digitodesmium elegans P.M. Kirk
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Digitodesmium.
Figure 1 – Digitodesmium spp. a–c D. recurvum (redrawn from Ho et al. (1999), HKU(M) 4552, holotype). a Conidiophore bearing conidium. b Conidium. c Conidium at the basal portion. d D. bambusicola (redrawn from Cai et al. (2002b), PDD 74494, holotype). d Conidium with apical or subapical appendages. Scale bars: a–d = 10 μm
References
Entry by
Wei Dong, Faculty of Agriculture and Food, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand, Innovative Agriculture Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Institute of Plant Health, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510225, China
Published online 22 May 2026