Fungalpedia – Note 2204, Lindra
Lindra. I.M. Wilson.
Citation when using this data: Dayarathne MC et al. 2025 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Lulworthiaceae, Lulworthiales, Incertae sedis, Sordariomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on submerged wood, test panels, foam in marine habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata solitary or gregarious, semi-globose or ellipsoidal, immersed becoming superficial, ostiolate, papillate, carbonaceous or coriaceous, dark coloured. Asci 8-spored, cylindrical sometimes curved, unitunicate, thin-walled, multi-septate, deliquescing early. Ascospores filiform, multiseptated, hyaline with globose tips. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous with conidiophores simple or branched, monoblastic, terminal, percurrent. Conidia solitary, filiform, septate, swollen at their tips, hyaline.
Notes – Lindra was introduced by Wilson (1956), from intertidal wood, driftwood and test panels with members of the genus collected exclusively from the marine environment (Wilson 1956, Nakagiri & Tubaki 1983). The genus resembles Lulworthia, but differs in lacking ascospores with apical chambers filled with mucilage. The genus comprises two species: Lindra inflata, and L. obtusa, the latter with an asexual morph: Anguillospora marina. Three other species have been transferred to a new genus (Lindriella) in this monograph. Molecular data only available for L. obtusa.
Although Wilson (1956) described the ascospores of L. inflata as appendaged, examination of the type material (IMI 62909) revealed that the tips are inflated but cannot be considered “appendaged”. They do not contain or release mucus and can be considered homologous with the apical chambers of Lulworthia but with a loss of function (Yusoff et al. 1995, Campbell et al. 2005), which is also supported by the molecular data as Lindra is nested within the Lulworthiales. Drawings of ascospore tips by Wilson (1956) and a photograph in Hyde et al. (1986) show a gelatinous film that attaches the ascospore to the substrate (Campbell et al. 2005). No other Lindra species has ascospore tips like L. inflata. Yusoff et al. (1995) undertook an ultrastructure study of both Lulworthia and Lindra ascospores, the latter showing no signs of an apical thickening or chamber. No cultures are available for L. inflata and those at the Portsmouth Culture Collection were lost due to lack of maintenance. A rarely collected species with records from England, Wales (United Kingdom), Newfoundland (Canada), Denmark, Germany, Norway, and North Carolina (USA).
Type species: Lindra inflata I.M. Wilson, Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 39(4): 411 (1956)
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Lindra.
Figure 1 – Lindra inflata (Km165868, holotype) a Ascomata on surface of wood.
b–d Septate ascospores with terminal inflated tips. Scale bars: b = 100 µm. c–d = 20 µm.
References
Campbell J. 2005 – Neotypification of Lulworthia fucicola. Mycologia 97, 549–551.
Entry by
Monika Dayarathne, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand.
Published online 26 March 2026