Fungalpedia –Note 16 Echinusitheca
Echinusitheca Y. Marín, Stchigel, Dania García, Guarro, A.N. Mill. & Cano
Index Fungorum number: IF 812084; Facesoffungi number: FoF 10515; Fig. 1
Marin-Felix et al. (2018) introduced Echinusitheca with E. citrispora as the type species based on the combined ITS, LSU, act and tef1 sequences. This species was discovered as a saprobe from soil in the United States (Marin-Felix et al. 2018). Echinusitheca belongs to Ceratostomataceae (= Melanosporaceae) in Coronophorales, Sordariomycetes (Hyde et al. 2020, Wijayawardene et al. 2022). This genus is characterised by having dark, strongly setose, non ostiolate ascomata, globose to subglobose, non-sitipitate asci lacking apical structures, and aseptate smooth-walled ascospores with a depressed germ pore at each end (Marin-Felix et al. 2018). Echinusitheca is morphologically similar to Arxiomyces and Scopinella by having dark semi-translucent ascomata (Marin-Felix et al. 2018). However, both Arxiomyces and Scopinella can be distinguished from Echinusitheca by having long ascomatal necks (Marin-Felix et al. 2018) Scopinella differs from Echinusitheca by having cuboid-ellipsoidal ascospores with two prominent longitudinal germ slits while Arxiomyces differs by having ellipsoidal ascospores with a broad germ pore bearing a mucilaginous and collapsing appendage (Marin-Felix et al. 2018).
Type species: Echinusitheca citrispora Y. Marín, Stchigel, Dania García, Guarro, A.N. Mill. & Cano
Fig 1. Echinusitheca citrispora (CBS 137837, ex-type). a. Ascomata. b, c. Asci. d-f. Ascospores. g. Depressed germ pore. Scale bars: a = 50 μm, b,c = 10 μm, d-f = 5 μm, g = 1 μm. Redrawn from Marin-Felix et al. (2018).
References
Hyde KD, Norphanphoun C, Maharachchikumbura SSN, Bhat DJ, Jones EBG, Bundhun D, et al. 2020 – Refined families of Sordariomycetes. Mycosphere.11(1):305–1059. https://doi.org/10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/7
Marin-Felix Y, Guarro J, García D, Stchigel AM. 2018 – Melanospora (Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota) and its relatives. MycoKeys. 44, 81. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.44.29742
Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Dai DQ, Sánchez-García M, Goto BT, Saxena RK, Erdogdu M, Selçuk F, Rajeshkumar KC, Aptroot A, BLASZKOWSKI J. 2021 – Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa-. https://doi.org/10.5943/mycosphere/13/1/2
Entry by
Ashani D. Madagammana, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Chiang Rai, Thailand
(Edited by Chitrabhanu S. Bhunjun and Kevin D. Hyde)