Fungalpedia – Note 2454, Lophiostoma
Lophiostoma. Ces. & De Not.
Citation when using this data: Dong W et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank
Classification: Lophiostomataceae, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on herbaceous and woody substrates in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata scattered to gregarious, immersed to semi-immersed, papilla erumpent through host surface, uniloculate, globose to subglobose, glabrous, dark brown to black, coriaceous to carbonaceous, ostiolate. Ostiole slit-like, with crest-like apex, usually with a pore opening, plugged by gelatinous tissue. Peridium wider at the apex and thinner at the base, composed of a single stratum, comprising several layers of lightly pigmented to dark brown, thin-walled cells, outer layer fusing and indistinguishable from the host tissues. Pseudoparaphyses numerous, cellular, hypha-like, septate, branched, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindro-clavate, short to long pedicellate, rounded at the apex with an ocular chamber. Ascospores uni- or partially bi-seriate, fusiform, straight to slightly curved, hyaline to yellowish brown, 1- to multi-septate, sometimes with 3–5-eusepta, constricted at the central septum (Thambugala et al. 2015). Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiomata scattered or clustered, subglobose with a flattened base, covered with brownish, septate hyphae. Neck central, cylindrical, composed of dark brown, polygonal to subglobose cells. Pycnidial wall slightly thinner at the base, composed of subglobose to polygonal cells. Conidiophores septate, branched, hyaline. Conidiogenous cells phialidic. Conidia ellipsoidal to obovoid, aseptate, hyaline, smooth (Tanaka and Harada 2003b).
Notes: Lophiostoma is an old genus with over 400 epithets recorded (Index Fungorum 2020). Lophiostoma was confirmed in Lophiostomataceae based on multigene phylogenetic analyses (Thambugala et al. 2015). Hashimoto et al. (2018) revisited 11 species that were classified as Lophiostoma bipolare complex, and proposed five new genera. The asexual morph was found in the culture of L. semiliberum (Desm.) Ces. & De Not. and characterized by subglobose conidiomata covered by hyphae, phialidic conidiogenous cells and ellipsoid to obovoid conidia (Tanaka and Harada 2003b). Six species have been found from freshwater habitats, but none of them is confirmed by molecular evidence. Of the six freshwater species,
L. purpurascens is the only species staining the substrate purple (Hyde and Aptroot 1998b). Staining the substrate purple was also observed in other freshwater species, e.g. Amniculicola parva, Jahnula purpurea, Purpureofaciens aquatica (Zhang et al. 2009b; Fournier et al. 2015). Fresh collections are needed to verify the taxonomic placement of these freshwater species.
Type species: Lophiostoma macrostomum (Tode) Ces. & De Not.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Lophiostoma.
References
Tanaka K, Harada Y (2003b) Pleosporales in Japan (1): the genus Lophiostoma. Mycoscience 44:85–96
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