Fungalpedia – Note 1254, Helminthosphaeriaceae

 

Helminthosphaeriaceae Samuels

Citation when using this data: Hyde KD et al. 2020 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1

Classification: Sordariales, Sordariomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi

Saprobic on wood or decorticated branch in terrestrial and aquatic habitats, some fungicolous. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial, gregarious or scattered, dark brown to black, solitary, superficial or immersed, ovoid, globose to subglobose, rough, tuberculate, smooth or with setae, papillate or ostiole indistinct, the apex collapsing when dry. Ostioles periphysate. Peridium composed of two layers, outer layer comprising brown cells of textura angularis or prismatica, carbonaceous or membranaceous; inner layer comprising hyaline cells of textura prismatica, thin, membranaceous. Paraphyses numerous, septate, persistent or deliquescing, swollen, filiform or cylindrical. Asci 8-spored, unitunicate, thin or thick-walled, cylindrical to clavate, pedicellate, apex truncate, J-, apical ring refractive or indistinct. Ascospores 2-seriate, hyaline or brown or becoming dark colored in part, allantoid, clavate, cylindrical to ellipsoid, 0–3-septate, smooth-walled, with or without guttules or pores. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Conidiophores macronematous, mononematous, scattered or gregarious, brown, straight, septate, unbranched, smooth-walled. Conidiogenous cells mono- or polyblastic, terminal, intercalary, integrated, percurrently elongating; conidiogenesis tretic. Conidia solitary, acrogenous, brown, aseptate or septate, obclavate, globose to fusiform to cylindrical, straight, subtruncate to obtuse at the apex, truncate or swollen at the base, sometimes with guttules.

Notes: Helminthosphaeriaceae was introduced by Samuels et al. (1997) for taxa with black, setose ascomata and cylindrical asci containing brown ascospores and included the only genus Helminthosphaeria (Fuckel 1870). Tengiomyces was added to the family by Réblová (1999) based on similar characters to Helminthosphaeria, viz. setose ascomata. Echinosphaeria, Hilberina, Ruzenia and Synaptospora, many of which are Lasiosphaeria segregates, were included based on analysis of LSU sequence data and characters (Miller & Huhndorf 2004, Miller et al. 2014). Endophragmiella was accepted as the asexual morph of Echinosphaeria (Hughes 1979). Helminthosphaeriaceae forms a well-supported clade in Chaetosphaeriales, with Chaetosphaeriaceae as a sister clade (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2015). Currently seven genera are accepted in the family based on morphological and phylogenic analyses of LSU, SSU, tef1 and rpb2 sequence data. Although we include Tengiomyces here, it lacks molecular data, which is needed to confirm its placement.

Type genus: Helminthosphaeria Fuckel.

 

References

Fuckel L. 1870 – Symbolae mycologicae. Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Rheinischen Pilze. Jahrbücher des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde 23–24, 1–459.

Hughes SJ. 1979 – Relocation of species of Endophragmia auct. with notes on relevant generic names. New Zealand Journal of Botany 17, 139–188.

Maharachchikumbura SSN, Hyde KD, Jones EBG, McKenzie EHC et al. 2015 – Towards a natural classification and backbone tree for Sordariomycetes. Fungal Diversity 72, 199–301.

Miller AN, Huhndorf SM. 2004 – A natural classification of Lasiosphaeria based on nuclear LSU rDNA sequences. Mycological Research 108, 26–34.

Miller AN, Huhndorf SM, Fournier J. 2014 – Phylogenetic relationships of five uncommon species of Lasiosphaeria and three new species in the Helminthosphaeriaceae (Sordariomycetes). Mycologia 106, 505–524.

Réblová M, Barr ME, Samuels GJ. 1999 – Chaetosphaeriaceae, a new family for Chaetosphaeria and its relatives. Sydowia 51, 49–70.

Samuels GJ, Candoussau F, Magni JF. 1997 – Fungicolous pyrenomycetes 1. Helminthosphaeria and the new family Helminthosphaeriaceae. Mycologia 89, 141–155.

 

Entry by

Kevin David Hyde, Institute of Plant Health, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510225, P.R. China, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Mushroom Research Foundation, 128 M.3 Ban Pa Deng T. Pa Pae, A. Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai 50150, Thailand, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand, Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, P.R. China, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, World Agroforestry Centre, East and Central Asia, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, P.R. China

 

Published online 28 February 2020

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