Fungalpedia – Note 2426, Kirschsteiniothelia
Kirschsteiniothelia. D. Hawksw.
Citation when using this data: Dong W et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Kirschsteiniotheliaceae, Kirschsteiniotheliales, Dothideomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic mostly on dead wood in terrestrial or submerged wood in freshwater habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata superficial, solitary or clustered, subglobose to globose, membranaceous, dark brown to black, with a central papilla. Peridium composed of several layers of cells of textura angularis. Pseudoparaphyses numerous, trabeculate, filiform, hyaline. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindric-clavate, long pedicellate, apically rounded, with an ocular chamber. Ascospores biseriate, ellipsoidal, dull green, olive brown to dark brown at maturity, 1–2-septate, smooth-walled (Hawksworth 1985; Boonmee et al. 2012). Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Conidiophores macronematous, mononematous, erect, gregarious, elongate and thick-walled, straight and slightly curved, apically branched, septate, brown to dark brown, smooth-walled. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, monoblastic, terminal, constricted at delimiting septa. Conidia broadly ellipsoid-obovoid, fusiform to obclavate, rounded at both ends, initially 1-septate, later becoming 2-septate, occasionally 3-septate, constricted and darkly pigmented at the septa, reddish brown to dark brown, grayish brown, smooth-walled (Hyde et al. 2013; Su et al. 2016b).
Notes: Kirschsteiniothelia is characterized by superficial, subglobose to globose ascomata, cylindric-clavate asci and ellipsoidal, dull green, olive-brown to dark brown ascospores (Boonmee et al. 2012). The asexual morph of Kirschsteiniothelia has been connected to Dendryphiopsis, typified by D. atra (Corda) S. Hughes with molecular data (Boonmee et al. 2012; Hyde et al. 2013; Su et al. 2016b). For convenience, Wijayawardene et al. (2014) proposed to use Kirschsteiniothelia over Dendryphiopsis and named K. atra as the type species. All Kirschsteiniothelia species formed a well-supported clade and were placed in Kirschsteiniotheliaceae by Boonmee et al. (2012). Six freshwater species with molecular data have been accepted in the genus and all of which are asexual morphs. All freshwater species have unbranched conidiophores and mostly clavate conidia (slender conidia in K. fluminicola Z.L. Luo et al.), except K. aethiops (Sacc.) D. Hawksw. producing branched conidiophores and cylindrical conidia (Su et al. 2016b).
Type species: Kirschsteiniothelia atra (Corda) D. Hawksw.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Kirschsteiniothelia.
Figure 1 – Kirschsteiniothelia atra (HKAS 84022). a, b Colonies on the substratum. c Conidiophores with conidia. d, e Conidiogenous cells and conidia. f–h Conidia. Scale bars: c = 130 μm, d, e = 50 μm, f–h, l–o = 20 μm, i, j = 100 μm, k = 30 μm.
References
Entry by
Wei Dong, Faculty of Agriculture and Food, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand, Innovative Agriculture Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Institute of Plant Health, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510225, China
Published online 22 May 2026