Fungalpedia – Note 819, Nitschkiaceae
Nitschkiaceae Nannf.
Citation when using this data: Huang SK et al. 2021 (in prep.) – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.
Classification: Coronophorales, Hypocreomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic or parasitic on wood, leaves or lichen. Sexual morph: Subiculum absent or composed of numerous or rare, brown, branched, septate hyphae. Ascomata perithecial or without an external opening, solitary or gregarious, semi-immersed or erumpent or superficial, sitting on or in a subiculum, usually carbonaceous, brown to black, cupuliform, globose to subglobose, glabrous or with spines, the apex collapsing when dry or shallowly cupulate when moist, with periphyses inside of the ostioles or inconspicuous ostioles or lacking ostioles, with or Quellkörper absent. Peridium usually outer layer composed of carbonaceous, black tissue; inner layer composed of membranaceous, brown to hyaline cells of textura angularis to textura prismatica, sometimes Munk pores present. Paraphyses absent or numerous, filiform, branched or unbranched, septate, evanescent. Asci 4-, 8- or multi-spored, unitunicate, clavate to cylindrical, pedicellate or sessile, apex blunt or rounded, apical ring inconspicuous, evanescent. Ascospores hyaline to brown, allantoid, ellipsoidal to cylindrical, sometimes curved, smooth-walled, sometimes with mucilaginous sheath or appendages, mostly with guttules. Asexual morph: Undetermined (adapted from Subramanian & Sekar 1990, Hyde et al. 2020e).
Notes – Nitschkiaceae was initially introduced as subfamily ‘Nitschkieae’, which has affinity with morphology of Coronophoraceae (Fitzpatrick 1923). Nannfeldt (1932) clarified their relationship and established Nitschkiaceae in Coronophorales. Subsequently, this family accommodated 14 genera and, is characterized by black, turbinate, cupuliform ascomata, usually with Quellkörper and clavate to subcylindrical asci (Nannfeldt 1932, 1975, Subramanian & Sekar 1990, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2016, Hyde et al. 2020e). Four genera, Acanthonitschkea, Fracchiaea, Neotrotteria and Nitschkia, have sequences data (Huhndorf et al. 2004b, Mugambi & Huhndorf 2010). We found that Acanthonitschkea, Fracchiaea and Nitschkia (except N. pezizoidea) are well clustered in Nitschkiaceae (96%ML/1.00BY) and closely related to Bertiaceae, but Neotrotteria nests in Ceratostomataceae (68%ML). We place Neotrotteria in Ceratostomataceae based on our phylogenetic result (see notes for Neotrotteria).
Type genus – Nitschkia G.H. Otth ex P. Karst.
References
Fitzpatrick HM. 1923 – Monograph of the Nitschkieae. Mycologia 15(1), 23–44.
Nannfeldt JA. 1932 – Studien über die Morphologie und Systematik der nichtlichenisierten inoperculaten Discomyceten. . Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis 8(2), 1–368.
Subramanian CV, Sekar G. 1990 – Coronophorales from India-a monograph. Kavaka 18, 19–90.
Entry by
Shi-Ke Huang, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China, The Engineering Research Center of Southwest Bio-Pharmaceutical Resources, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, Guizhou Province, 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, The Mushroom Research Centre, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Published online 14 September 2021