Fungalpedia – Note 3179, Hobsonia
Hobsonia Berk. ex Massee, Annals of Botany 5 (4): 509 (1891).
Citation when using this data: Jian Ma et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Phleogenaceae, Atractiellales, Incertae sedis, Atractiellomycetes, Pucciniomycotina, Basidiomycota, Fungi.
Notes: Hobsonia was initially introduced by Massee (1891) based on the morphological characteristics of H. gigaspora. Subsequently, H. ackermannii and H. gigaspora were identified as synonyms of H. mirabilis based on their similar features (Massee 1891; Patouillard 1902; Linder 1929; Martin 1959; Sikaroodi et al. 2001). However, Hobsonia christiansenii and H. santessonii have been transferred to other genera based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses of the ITS, SSU, and mtSSU sequence data (Lowen et al. 1986; Sikaroodi et al. 2001). Hobsonia comprises a single species, H. mirabilis, which was found in decaying wood, decaying plant remains, decaying palm fronds, Bamboo, and the petiole of Brassia in the America, Caribbean, Dominica, French, India, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (Massee 1891; Patouillard 1902; Linder 1929; Martin 1959; Sikaroodi et al. 2001). Hobsonia is characterized by verruciform, gelatinous or dry and granular, sporodochia colonies, and multiseptate, proliferating conidia that are irregularly coiled, or coiled in three planes to form tangled knots (Linder 1929).
Type species: Hobsonia mirabilis (Peck) Linder, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 16: 340 (1929).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Hobsonia.
Figure 1 – (a) Troposporopsis atroapicis (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (b) Hobsonia mirabilis (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (c) Vanbeverwijkia spirospora (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (d) Deconica merdaria (redrawn from Valenzuela and Garnica (2000), a cultured on MEA from the basidiome produces monokaryotic arthroconidia from dikaryotichyphae. b Basidiosporesen masse germinate to produce basidiocarps. Scale bars: a, b = 10 μm.
References
Martin G. 1959 – On the genus Hobsonia. Brittonia 11:98–101.
Massee G. 1891 – A new genus of Tubercularieae. Annals of Botany 5(4):509–509.
Patouillard N. 1888 – Champignons du Vénézuéla et principalement de la région du Haut-Orénoque, récoltés en 1887 par M. A. Gaillard. Bulletin de la Société Mycologique de France 4(2):7–46.
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 18 September 2026