Fungalpedia – Note 209, Diporicellaesporites (Fossil Fungi)

 

Diporicellaesporites Elsik.

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

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

Classification: Incertae sedis, Phragmosporae, Fossil Fungi.

The fossil genus Diporicellaesporites was described by Elsik (1968) from the Rockdale lignite (Palaeocene, 66–56 mya) located 11 km southwest of Rockdale, Milam County, Texas, U.S.A. Diporicellaesporites includes elongated, disparate, and multicelled fungal or algal spores with one pore at each end of the spore. The shape and ornamentation are variable, except for being never coiled. Two or more septa were present (Elsik 1968). The fossilized species Diporicellaesporites taeniolelloides was described by Kalgutkar (1997). It is distinguished by its taeniolella-like, interconnected, and uniquely rough-walled conidia, which could not be studied; hence, its identification and affinities are still unknown (Heuchert et al. 2018). Several species of Diporicellaesporites are represented in the fossil record, and all are characterized by different traits (Kalgutkar & Sigler 1995). Diporicellaesporites elongatus is one species that exhibits these characteristics. Its fusiform spores had five septa, truncated ends, and diporate characteristics. Most remarkably, it is closely related to the conidia of the saprobic hyphomycete Heteroconium and shows connections with the rust species Xenodochus (Martinez et al. 2016). 

Type species: Diporicellaesporites stacyi Elsik.

Other accepted species: (Index Fungorum – search Diporicellaesporites)

 

 

Figure 1 – Diporicellaesporites stacyi. Scale bar = 10 μm. Redrawn from Elsik (1968).

 

References

Elsik WC. 1968 – Palynology of a Palaeocene Rockdale lignite, Milam County, Texas. 1. Morphology and taxonomy. Pollen et Spores 10(2), 263–314.

Heuchert B, Braun U, Diederich P, Ertz D. 2018 – Taxonomic monograph of the genus Taeniolella s. lat. (Ascomycota). Fungal Systematics and Evolution. 15, 2(1), 69–261.

Kalgutkar RM, Sigler L. 1995 – Some fossil fungal form-taxa from the Maastrichtian and Palaeogene ages. Mycological Research. 1, 99(5), 513– 522.

Kalgutkar RM. 1997 – Fossil fungi from the lower Tertiary Iceberg Bay Formation, Eukeka Sound Group, Axel Heiberg Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 1, 97(1-2), 197–226.

Martinez MA, Bianchinotti MV, Saxena RK, Cornou ME et al. 2016 – Fungal spores from the Palaeogene El Foyel Group of Ñirihuau Basin, Argentina. Papers in Palaeontology. 2(3), 343–362.

 

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 15 February 2024

Back to Glossary Index Page