Fungalpedia – Note 3117, Magnohelicospora

 

Magnohelicospora R.F. Castañeda, Hern.-Rest., Gené & Guarro, Mycotaxon 121: 172 (2013).

Citation when using this data: Jian Ma et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.

Classification: Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.

Notes: Magnohelicospora was established and illustrated by Castañeda-Ruiz et al. (2013), with M. iberica as the type species based on its polyblastic, sympodial conidiogenous cells, and solitary, doliiform or conical, multi-euseptate, helicoid conidia, as well as molecular data (Hernandez-Restrepo et al. 2017). Currently, Magnohelicospora comprises two species: M. fuscospora and M. iberica, which were found in various regions such as America, Great Britain, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden (Linder 1929; Abdullah et al. 1986; Castañeda-Ruiz et al. 2013; Hernandez-Restrepo et al. 2017). Magnohelicospora shares similarities with Inesiosporium and Pleohelicoon, having loosely or tightly coiled, multi-septate, ellipsoidal conidia (Castañeda Ruíz and Gams 1997; Hernandez-Restrepo et al. 2017; Jayasiri et al. 2019). However, Magnohelicospora differs from Inesiosporium and Pleohelicoon in producing polyblastic, long, denticulate conidiophores (Castañeda Ruíz and Gams 1997; Jayasiri et al. 2019). Additionally, molecular data reveal their distribution at different order levels, with Inesiosporium in the order incertae sedis, Magnohelicospora in Venturiales, and Pleohelicoon in Pleosporales (Hernandez-Restrepo et al. 2017; Lu and Kang 2020).

Type species: Magnohelicospora iberica R.F. Castañeda, Hern.-Rest., Gené & Guarro, Mycotaxon 121: 172 (2013).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Magnohelicospora.

Figure 1 – (a) Magnohelicospora iberica (redrawn from Hernandez-Restrepo et al. (2017)), a Conidiophore and conidia. b Conidia. Scale bars: a, b = 10 µm; (b) Tyrannosorus pinicola (redrawn from Voglmayr and Fisher (1997)), a Coiled conidia and straight hyphae forming arthrospores (arrowheads). b Straight and curved, mostly one-celled propagules after disarticulation of coiled conidia and straight hyphae. a, b = 10 µm; (c) Hiospira hendrickxii (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (d) Hymenoscyphus paradoxus (redrawn from Linder (1929)).

 

References

Abdullah SK, Guarro J, Figueras M. 1996 – New and interesting Helicoon species from Spain. Mycotaxon 60:449–454.

Castañeda Ruíz R, Gams W. 1997 – Inesiosporium, a new genus of helicosporous hyphomycetes. Nova Hedwigia 64:485–490.

Castañeda-Ruiz RF, Hernández-Restrepo M, Gené J, Guarro J et al. 2013 – Two new microfungi from Portugal: Magnohelicospora iberica gen. & sp. nov. and Phaeodactylium stadleri sp. nov. Mycotaxon 121(1):171–179.

Hernandez-Restrepo M, Gené J, Castañeda-Ruiz R, Mena-Portales J et al. 2017 – Phylogeny of saprobic microfungi from Southern Europe. Studies in Mycology 86(1):53–97.

Jayasiri S, Hyde K, Jones E, McKenzie E et al. 2019 – Diversity, morphology and molecular phylogeny of Dothideomycetes on decaying wild seed pods and fruits. Mycosphere 10(1):1–186. 

Linder DH. 1929 – A monograph of the helicosporous fungi imperfecti. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 16(3):227–388.

 

Entry by

Jian Ma, School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang 550003, P.R. China, 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.

 

Published online 10 September 2026

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