Fungalpedia – Note 3163, Helicosingula

 

Helicosingula P.S. van Wyk, Marasas, Baard & Knox-Dav., Transactions of the British Mycological Society 85 (1): 183 (1985).

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

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

Classification: Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.

Notes: Helicosingula was established by Van Wyk et al. (1985) with H. leucadendri as the type species based on its unique morphological evidence. The micro-morphological structures of H. leucadendri were characterized through scanning electron micrographs (SEM), and confirmed its classification within the helicosporous group (Van Wyk et al. 1985). Helicosingula comprises a single species, H. leucadendri, found on leaves of Leucadendron tinctum in South Africa (Van Wyk et al. 1985). Helicosingula is characterized by hyphae-like conidiophores, holoblastic, discrete, globose, hyaline to brown, cup-shaped conidiogenous cells, each with a single conidium, and solitary, terminal, dark brown, thick-walled, multi-septate, helicoid, tightly coiled conidia that are not constricted at the septa (Van Wyk et al. 1985). The morphological features of H. leucadendri differ from those of other helicosporous taxa owing to its peculiar conidiogenous cells and conidia (Linder 1929; Goos 1989; Zhao et al. 2007; Lu et al. 2018b).

Type species: Helicosingula leucadendri P.S. van Wyk, Marasas, Baard & Knox-Dav., Transactions of the British Mycological Society 85 (1): 183 (1985).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Helicosingula.

Figure 1 – (a) Helicominopsis fici (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (b) Helicorhoidion botryoideum (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (c) Helicosingula leucadendri (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (d) Helicoubisia coronata (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)).

 

References

Goos R. 1989 – On the anamorph genera Helicosporium and Drepanospora. Mycologia 81(3):356–374.

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

Lu YZ, Liu JK, Hyde KD, Jeewon R et al. 2018b – A taxonomic reassessment of Tubeufiales based on multi-locus phylogeny and morphology. Fungal Diversity 92:131–344.

Van Wyk P, Marasas W, Baard S, Knox-Davies P. 1985 – Helicosingula, a new genus of dematiaceous hyphomycetes on Leucadendron tinctum in South Africa. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 85(1):183–187.

Zhao G, Liu X, Wu W. 2007 – Helicosporous hyphomycetes from China. Fungal Diversity 26:313–524.

 

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 11 September 2026

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