Fungalpedia – Note 2084, Mycoporaceae

 

Mycoporaceae Zahlbr.

Citation when using this data: Hongsanan S et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.

Classification: Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi

Non-lichenized or facultatively lichenized on bark of trees or on stones. Hyphae thick, almost hydnoid-corticioid, yellowish, consisting of loose, branched, with finely verrucose, cells born at tips of hyphae resembling blastospores. Sexual morph: Ascostromata comprises pale mycelium, loose, copiously branched, with multi-loculate. Locules scattered, aggregated, botryose or immersed in ascostroma, sphaerical or conical, erumpent or superficial, black, globose to subglobose or irregular, without wall of their own. Ostiole an apical pore or an elongated channel. Peridium of pseudoparenchymatous cells, thin-walled, pale brown to brown, hyaline, hymenium often gelatinous, comprises textura globose cells. Hamathecium comprising filiform, often septate, hyaline, pseudoparaphyses. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical, obclavate or thickest in the middle, with a short-pedicel, ectotunica thin; endotunica very thick in upper half of ascus, thin in lower half without ring structures, with long tapering ocular chamber. Ascospores irregularly arranged, ellipsoidal, fusiform to clavate with upper hemispore broader, hyaline at immature with thin gelatinous sheath asci firmly enclosed in strongly reticulate, brownish at maturity, variably septate, muriform, not constricted at the septa. Asexual morph: Undetermined (adapted from Hyde et al. 2013).

Notes: Mycoporaceae was established by Zahlbruckner (1903) to accommodate a single genus, Mycoporum. von Arx & Müller (1975) mentioned that the typical characters of this family are unclear and it is difficult to distinguish Mycoporum from Pleosporaceae as some genera have a lichen habit. Lumbsch (1999) placed this family in Dothideales sensu stricto based on structure and development of ascomata in Mycoporum. Cannon & Kirk (2007) accepted Cyrtidulamay in Mycoporaceae. The family contained only one genus in Hyde et al. (2013) and other recently papers e.g. Wijayawardene et al. (2017a) and Lücking et al. (2017). It has been mentioned of uncertain taxonomic placement in Dothideomycetes (Hyde et al. 2013). Molecular data is required to resolve its position within the Dothideomycetes. 

Type genus: Mycoporum Flot. ex Nyl.

 

References

Cannon PF, Kirk PM. 2007 – Fungal Families of the World. CABI Bioscience, Wallingford, UK, pp 1–456.

Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Liu J-K, Ariyawansa H et al. 2013 – Families of Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity 63, 1–313.

Lücking R, Hodkinson BP, Leavitt SD. 2017 – The 2016 classification of lichenized fungi in the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota-approaching one thousand genera. Bryologist 119,

Lumbsch HT. 1999 – The ascoma development in Mycoporum elabens (Mycoporaceae, Dothideales). Plant biology 1, 321–326.

von Arx JA, Müller E. 1975 – A re-evaluation of the bitunicate Ascomycetes with keys to families and genera. Studies in Mycology 9, 1–159.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Rajeshkumar KC, Hawksworth DL et al. 2017a – Notes for genera: Ascomycota. Fungal Diversity 86, 1–594.

Zahlbruckner A. 1903 – Lichenes, Spezieller Teil. In: Engler A, Prantl K (eds) Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien, Abt. 1, t. 1. Engelmann, Leipzig, pp 49–249.

 

Entry by

Sinang Hongsanan, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Plant Epigenetics, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Microbial Genetic Engineering, College of Life Science and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People’s Republic of China, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50002, Thailand 

 

Published online 25 March 2026

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