Fungalpedia – Note 2496, Ocala
Ocala Raja & Shearer
Citation when using this data: Dong W et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank/, GenBank, Fig. 1
Classification: Phaeosphaeriaceae, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on submerged wood. Sexual morph: Ascomata scattered, immersed or superficial, uniloculate, globose to subglobose, brown to dark brown, or semi-transparent, membranous, with ostiolate papilla. Peridium thin-walled, composed of textura angularis to epidermoidea in surface view. Pseudoparaphyses sparse, cellular, broad, hyaline, septate, branched. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, obclavate to fusoid, flattened at the apex, with an elongate, tapered pedicel. Ascospores overlapping uni- to bi-seriate, narrowly ellipsoidal to fusiform, straight or slightly curved, hyaline, phragmoseptate, thick-walled, with or without amorphous apical gelatinous appendages (Raja et al. 2009a). Asexual morph: Undetermined.
Notes: The monotypic genus Ocala was introduced for a freshwater species O. scalariformis collected from Florida (Raja et al. 2009a). Ocala is characterized by obclavate to fusoid asci, narrowly ellipsoidal to fusiform, hyaline, phragmoseptate, thick-walled ascospores with or without amorphous apical gelatinous appendages (Raja et al. 2009a). The phylogenetic placement of Ocala is questionable because the ex-type strain F121 of O. scalariformis clustered with Natipusilla bellaspora in Natipusillales with high bootstrap support (Raja et al. 2015). However, Ocala has brown to dark brown ascomata, obclavate to fusoid asci and phragmoseptate ascospores contrasting with the hyaline to light brown ascomata, subglobose asci and mostly one-septate ascospores of Natipusilla (Raja et al. 2009a; Ferrer et al. 2011; Raja et al. 2012). We notice that only SSU sequence data of O. scalariformis (NG_061098, F121, from holotype) is deposited in GenBank and included in the phylogenetic analysis of Raja et al. (2015). The phylogenetic placement of O. scalariformis is pending awaiting more sequences. Ocala is presently placed in Dothideomycetes genera incertae sedis (Wijayawardene et al. 2018, 2020).
Type species: Ocala scalariformis Raja & Shearer
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Ocala.
Figure 1 – Ocala scalariformis (Material examined: USA, Florida, Ocala National Forest, Mary Lake, on submerged decorticated woody debris, 16 July 2006, H.A. Raja & J.L. Crane, F121-1, ILL40594, holotype). a Sqaush mount of ascoma. b Pseudoparaphyses. c, d Bitunicate asci. e Asci and ascospores. f Ascospore showing appendages. g Ascospores. Scale bars: a, c = 40 µm, b, d, e, g = 20 µm, f = 15 µm. Images were taken from the Freshwater Ascomycetes Database: http://fungi.life.illinois.edu (maintained by Carol A. Shearer and Huzefa A. Raja).
References
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