Fungalpedia – Note 2695, Kukwaea
Kukwaea Suija, Motiej. & Zhurb.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Hamatocanthoscyphaceae, Helotiales, Leotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Kukwaea was introduced by Suija et al. (2020) to describe a lichenicolous fungus found on Cetraria islandica in coniferous forests across the European and Asian regions of Russia. This genus is distinguished by its cupulate, brown ascomata with a gray to blackish disc surrounded by brownish-gray, granulose hairs. The exciple is of the textura angularis type, containing crystals in its lower part, and features obtuse-tipped hairs. Other diagnostic traits include simple to forked paraphyses, Calycina-type asci, and hyaline, aseptate ascospores (Suija et al. 2020).
The type species, Kukwaea pubescens, is currently the sole species recognized within the genus. Suija et al. (2020) placed this genus within Helotiales genera incertae sedis. Using concatenated SSU, LSU, mtSSU and RPB2 sequences from Suija et al. (2020) incorporated into an expanded multigene dataset from Johnston et al. (2019), Kukwaea belongs to Hamatocanthoscyphaceae (Johnston 2022b).
Type species: Kukwaea pubescens Motiej. & Zhurb., on Cetraria islandica (Suija et al. 2020)
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Kukwaea.
Figure 1 – Kukwaea pubescens redrawn from Suija et al. (2020). a Ascomata on the thallus of Cetraria islandica. b Structure of ectal exciple. c Septate paraphyses. d Asci. e Ascospores. Scale bars: a = 500 μm, b–d = 10 μm, e = 5 μm.
References
Johnston P. 2022b – Leotiomycetes phylogeny updated October 2022. Phylogeny and Taxonomy of New Zealand’s Fungi,
Johnston P, Park D, Renner M. 2019 – Sphaeropezia leucocheila sp. nov.(Stictidaceae): A liverwort pathogen from New Zealand. Phytotaxa 409 (4), 222–226.
Suija A, Zhurbenko MP, Stepanchikova I, Himelbrant DE et al. 2020 – Kukwaea pubescens gen. et sp. nova (Helotiales, incertae sedis), a new lichenicolous fungus on Cetraria islandica, and a key to the lichenicolous fungi occurring on Cetraria s. str. Phytotaxa 459 (1), 39–50.
Entry by
Meng QF, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand and School of Public Health, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou 563000, China.
Published online 16 July 2026