Fungalpedia – Note 2443, Lentithecium
Lentithecium. K.D. Hyde, J. Fourn. & Ying Zhang.
Citation when using this data: Dong W et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Dictyosporiaceae, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on submerged woody plant, grass in freshwater or dead leaf sheaths, stems, culms of grass in terrestrial habitats. Sexual morph Ascomata scattered to grouped, immersed to erumpent, uniloculate, globose to subglobose, glabrous, dark brown to black, with ostiolate papilla. Peridium composed of several layers of thin-walled cells. Pseudoparaphyses numerous, cellular, hyaline, septate, branched, persistent. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, clavate-cylindrical to oblong-cylindrical, broadly rounded at the apex, tapering to a short pedicel. Ascospores bi- or tri-seriate, fusiform, straight to slightly curved, hyaline to brown, septate, usually asymmetrical, smooth to roughed, with or without gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph Conidiomata pycnidial, solitary or aggregated, unilocular, immersed, erumpent to superficial, subglobose, ellipsoidal, dark brown to black, glabrous or surrounded by brown, septate, thick-walled hyphae, with ostiolate papilla. Pycnidial wall composed of several layers of dark cells of textura angularis, paler towards the inner layer. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, determinate, smooth-walled, hyaline, subglobose to pearshaped. Conidia variable in shape, hyaline, aseptate, smooth (Ryckegem 2001; Zhang et al. 2009d; Hyde et al. 2016b).
Notes: Lentithecium was established to accommodate L. aquaticum Ying Zhang et al. and three new combinations L. arundinaceum (Sowerby) K.D. Hyde et al., L. fluviatile (type species) and L. lineare (E. Müll. ex Dennis) K.D. Hyde et al. (Zhang et al. 2009d). However,
L. arundinaceum was later transferred to Setoseptoria based on phylogenetic analyses, although no morphological connection between L. arundinaceum (ascomycetes) and S. phragmitis Quaedvl. et al. (type species, coelomycetes) was shown (Tanaka et al. 2015). Lentithecium was previously characterized by the lenticular ascomata (Zhang et al. 2009d) and later emended to globose after re-examination of the holotype of L. fluviatile (Hyde et al. 2013).
The freshwater species Lentithecium clioninum (Kaz. Tanaka et al.) Kaz. Tanaka & K. Hiray. and L. pseudoclioninum Kaz. Tanaka & K. Hiray. formed a well-supported clade with the type species, L. fluviatile. Lentithecium cangshanense Z.L. Luo et al., L. carbonneanum J. Fourn. et al., L. unicellulare Abdel-Aziz and a new species L. kunmingense clustered in a separated clade with low bootstrap support, and close to the genus Halobyssothecium Dayarathne et al. Lentithecium cangshanense, collected from submerged wood, is probably conspecific with the marine species L. voraginesporum Abdel-Wahab et al., because of their nearly identical sequences (one nucleotide difference in LSU and SSU sequence data, respectively). Unfortunately, their ITS sequence data are lacking. Hyde et al. (2016b) distinguished them based on the size of ascomata, asci and ascospores which are considered as tiny differences in this study. More sequenced collections are needed in future.
Lentithecium aquaticum Ying Zhang et al., which was collected from submerged wood in France, clustered in Lentithecium (Zhang et al. 2009d). With more sequenced species added in the family, the placement of L. aquaticum appeared to be unstable and had a weak relationship with Lentithecium clade (Tanaka et al. 2015; Hyde et al. 2016b; Su et al. 2016a). The most recent publications showed it was phylogenetically distant from Lentithecium and clustered with the members of Setoseptoria, but with low bootstrap support (Wanasinghe et al. 2018b; Phookamsak et al. 2019). Our phylogenetic analysis show L. aquaticum forms a basal clade to Darksidea, Halobyssothecium and Lentithecium. We exclude L. aquaticum from Lentithecium but more phylogenetic evidence is required.
Lentithecium unicellulare Abdel-Aziz, which was collected from submerged wood in the River Nile in Egypt, is the first asexual species in the genus (Hyde et al. 2016b). We report the second asexual species L. kunmingense, which was collected from China.
Type species: Lentithecium fluviatile (Aptroot & Van Ryck.) K.D. Hyde, J. Fourn. & Ying Zhang.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Lentithecium.
Figure 1 – Lentithecium spp. (Material examined: JAPAN, Hokkaido, Akkeshi, Bekanbeushi-river, on submerged twigs of woody plant, 2 June 2003, K. Tanaka & S. Hatakeyama, KT 1149A, holotype; Hokkaido, Akkeshi, Toraibetsu-river, on submerged twigs of woody plant, 3 June 2003, K. Tanaka & S. Hatakeyama, KT 1220, paratype; Aomori, Hirosaki, Aoki, Mohei pond, on submerged twigs of woody plant, 3 May 2003, K. Tanaka & N. Asama, KT 1113, holotype). a–f L. clioninum (a–d from KT 1149A, holotype; e from KT 1220, paratype; f from culture of KT 1149A). a Ascomata on the host surface. b Section of ascoma. c Peridium. d Pseudoparaphyses. e Ascus. f Ascospore. g Ascospore of L. pseudoclioninum (KT 1113, holotype). Scale bars: a = 500 μm, b = 100 μm, c–g = 10 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