Fungalpedia – Note 3131, Helicoascotaiwania

 

Helicoascotaiwania Dayar., Maharachch. & K.D. Hyde, Frontiers in Microbiology 10 (no. 840): 22 (2019).

Citation when using this data: Jian Ma et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

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

Classification: Pleurotheciaceae, Pleurotheciales, Hypocreomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.

Notes: Helicoascotaiwania was erected by Dayarathne et al. (2019) to accommodate two saprobic freshwater hyphomycetes: H. farinose as the type species and H. lacustris. These two species were found on submerged wood and dead wood of a branch of Populus sp. and Salix atrocinerea in America, China and Great Britain (Linder 1929; Fallah et al. 1999; Dayarathne et al. 2019; Réblová et al. 2020). Helicoon farinosum was initially introduced by Linder (1929) based on its acrogenous, subglobose to ellipsoidal, helicoid conidia. Later, Fallah et al. (1999) introduced both the sexual and asexual morph of Ascotaiwania hughesii and identified the asexual state’s basionym as Helicoon farinosum (ILLS 53606). Subsequently, molecular evidence indicated that Helicoascotaiwania farinosa was once synonymous with Helicoascotaiwania hughesii (formely as Ascotaiwania hughesii) based on their molecular and morphological evidence (Dayarathne et al. 2019; Réblová et al. 2020). The asexual morph of Helicoascotaiwania is characterized by micronematous, mononematous, hyaline conidiophores that are rarely branched, monoblastic, terminal, denticulate conidiogenous cells, and acrogenous, hyaline, subglobose to ellipsoidal, helicoid conidia (Dayarathne et al. 2019). The sexual morph is characterized by perithecial, scattered, pyriform to obpyriform, black, straight or inclined, ostiolate and periphysate ascomata that have erumpent necks, several cell layers of brown, textura angularis peridium, branched, septate paraphyses, 8-spored, unitunicate, cylindrical asci with a J- apical ring, and uniseriate, fusiform, straight or curved, 3-septate ascospores (Dayarathne et al. 2019).

Type species: Helicoascotaiwania farinosa (Fallah, J.L. Crane & Shearer) Dayar. & K.D. Hyde, Frontiers in Microbiology 10 (no. 840): 22 (2019).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Helicoascotaiwania.

Figure 1 – (a) Cirrenalia macrocephala (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (b) Helicoascotaiwania farinosa (redrawn from Dayarathne et al. (2019)), a, b Helicoid conidia. Scale bars: a, b = 20 µm; (c) Torpedospora mangrovei (redrawn from Abdel-Wahab et al. (2010)). a–e conidia from culture, f conidia from natural wood. Scale bars: a–f = 5 µm; (d) Brachyhelicoon xylogenum (redrawn from Arnaud (1952)).

 

References

Dayarathne MC, Maharachchikumbura SS, Jones EG, Dong W et al. 2019 –Phylogenetic revision of Savoryellaceae and evidence for its ranking as a subclass. Frontiers in Microbiology 10:840.

Fallah PM, Crane JL, Shearer CA. 1999 – Freshwater ascomycetes: two new species of Ascotaiwania from North America. Canadian Journal of Botany 77(1):87–92.

Linder DH. 1929 – A monograph of the helicosporous fungi imperfecti. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 16(3):227–388.

Réblová M, Hernández-Restrepo M, Fournier J, Nekvindová J. 2020 – New insights into the systematics of Bactrodesmium and its allies and introducing new genera, species and morphological patterns in the Pleurotheciales and Savoryellales (Sordariomycetes). Studies in Mycology 95(1):415–466.

 

Entry by

Jian Ma, School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang 550003, P.R. China, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand.

 

Published online 10 September 2026

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