Fungalpedia – Note 647, Leptoxyphium
Leptoxyphium Speg.
Citation when using this data: D. S. Marasinghe et al. 2023 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig. 1
Classification: Capnodiaceae, Capnodiales, Dothideomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Epiphytic and saprobic on leaves associated with sugary exudates from insects. Superficial mycelium composed of grey brown to brown, septate, branched, hyphae, verruculose, thick-walled, constricted at the septa developing as an irregular network. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Pycnidia superficial, gregarious, developing from hyphae, dark brown to brown, base bulbous, comprising parallel hyphae, straight to slightly flexuous, sometimes with helical twisting, comprised of cylindrical hyphae and expanded to become funnel-shaped, capulate at the apex. Conidia very small, ellipsoidal or rod shape, hyaline, 1-celled, guttulate or not (Woronichin 1926; Hughes 1976).
Notes: Spegazzini (1918) established Leptoxyphium with the type species of L. graminum. Species of this genus are sooty moulds and are usually recorded as asexual morphs. This genus morphologically differs from pycnidia of other genera by a narrow bulbous base, with cup-like apex, which produces conidia (Abdollahzadeh et al. 2020; Hongsanan et al. 2020a). Chomnunti et al. (2014) observed moniliform hyphae in the culture media of Leptoxyphium cacuminum. Leptoxyphium is morphologically closely related to the asexual morph of Capnodium in having long-stalked, flask-shaped, dark brown to brown pycnidia with wide base tapering at the end (Fig. 1). However, Leptoxyphium differs from the asexual morph of Capnodium by a cupulate, funnel- shaped apex while the latter has a tapering apex.
= Astragoxyphium Bat., Nascim. & Cif., in Batista &Ciferri, Quad. Lab, crittogam., Pavia 31:45 (1963).
= Caldariomyces Woron., Ann mycol 24 (3/4): 261 (1926).
= Megaloxyphium Cif., Bat. & Nascim., Publcoes Inst. Micol. Recife 47:3 (1956).
Type species: Leptoxyphium graminum (Pat) Speg., Physis. B. Aires 4: 294 (1918).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Leptoxyphium.
Figure 1 – Leptoxyphium sp. a, b Pycnidia. c Conidia. Scale bars: a = 100 μm, c = 20 μm. Redrawn from Khodaparast (2006)
References
Chomnunti P, Hongsanan S, Aguirre-Hudson B et al 2014 – The sooty moulds. Fungal Divers 66:1–36.
Hughes SJ 1976 – Sooty moulds. Mycologia 68:693–820.
Spegazzini CL 1918 – Notas micológicas. Physics 4:281–329.
Woronichin NN 1926 – Zur Kenntnis der Morphologie und Systematik der Russtaupilze Transkaukasiens. Ann Mycologici 24:231–264.
Entry by
Diana Sandamali Marasinghe, 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, Mushroom Research Foundation, 128 M.3 Ban Pa Deng T. Pa Pae, A. Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai, 50150, Thailand
Published online 29 August 2023