Fungalpedia – Note 2981, Halobyssothecium

 

Halobyssothecium Dayarathne, E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde.

Citation when using this data: Jing Yang et al. 2023 – Fungalpedia. 

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

Classification: Lentitheciaceae, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.

Notes: Halobyssothecium was established to accommodate a widespread species H. obiones, which mainly grows on salt marsh halophytes and has been assigned to several genera (Dayarathne et al. 2018). Molecular DNA data indicated its close relationship to Lentithecium (Dayarathne et al. 2018; Devadatha et al. 2020; Dong et al. 2020b; Hongsanan et al. 2020a; Calabon et al. 2021). With more fresh collections, Calabon et al. (2021) revised the taxonomy and phylogenetic assessment of Halobyssothecium and Lentithecium. This resulted in an expansion of Halobyssothecium with newly described ascomycetes and coelomycetes and five new combinations transferred from the Lentithecium. Halobyssothecium therefore possesses immersed, semi-immersed, erumpent or superficial, carbonaceous or coriaceous, papillate, ostiolate ascomata, short-pedicellate asci with or without an ocular chamber and asymmetrically or symmetrically fusiform, straight or slightly curved, yellowish-brown or versicolored, 1- or 3-septate, verrucose or smooth-walled ascospores, asexual morphs coelomycetous or hyphomycetous. The remaining species in Lentithecium are sexual stages without known asexual morphs and are distinguished from Halobyssothecium species by hyaline ascospores with a mucilaginous sheath (Zhang et al. 2009a; Tanaka et al. 2015). In our phylogenetic tree, Halobyssothecium formed a sister clade to Lentithecium except for two uncertain species H. versicolor and L. aquaticum.

Type species: Halobyssothecium aquifusiforme J. Yang, Jian K. Liu & K.D. Hyde.

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Halobyssothecium.

Figure 1 – Halobyssothecium aquifusiforme (HKAS 112638, holotype) a Colony on wood. b Vertical section of ascomata. c Section of an ascoma. d, e Section of peridium. f Paraphyses. g–l Asci. m–s Ascospores. t Germinated spore. u, v Colony on PDA medium, u from above, v from below. Scale bars: a = 1000 μm, b = 200 μm, c = 100 μm, d, f–l, t = 30 μm, e, s = 20 μm, m–r = 15 μm.

 

References

Calabon MS, Jones EBG, Hyde KD, Boonmee S et al.2021 – Phylogenetic assessment and taxonomic revision of Halobyssothecium and Lentithecium (Lentitheciaceae, Pleosporales). Mycol Prog 20:701–720. 

Dayarathne MC, Wanasinghe DN, Jones EBG, Chomnunti P, Hyde KD. 2018 – A novel marine genus Halobyssothecium (Lentitheciaceae) and epitypification of Halobyssothecium obiones comb. nov.. Mycol Prog 17:1161–1171. 

Devadatha B, Calabon MS, Abeywickrama PD, Hyde KD, Jones EBG. 2020 – Molecular data reveals a new holomorphic marine fungus, Halobyssothecium estuariae, and the asexual morph of Keissleriella phragmiticola. Mycology 11:167–183.

Dong W, Wang B, Hyde K.D, McKenzie EHC et al. 2020b – Freshwater Dothideomycetes. Fungal Divers 105:319–575.

Hongsanan S, Hyde KD, Phookamsak R, Wanasinghe DN et al. 2020a – Refined families of Dothideomycetes: Dothideomycetidae and Pleosporomycetidae. Mycosphere 11:1553–2107.

Tanaka K, Hirayama K, Yonezawa H, Sato G et al. 2015 – Revision of the Massarineae (Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes). Stud Mycol 82:75–136. 

Zhang Y, Wang HK, Fournier J, Crous PW et al. 2009a – Towards a phylogenetic clarification of Lophiostoma/Massarina and morphologically similar genera in the Pleosporales. Fungal Divers 38:225–251.

 

Entry by

Jing Yang, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Informational Biology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, People’s Republic of China, School of Science, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Guizhou Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biotechnology, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang 550006, People’s Republic of China.

 

Published online 19 August 2026