Fungalpedia – Note 3246, Orbilia

 

Orbilia Fr., Corpus Florarum provincialium suecicae I. Floram Scanicam: 343 (1836).

Citation when using this data: Zhang SN et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.

Classification: Arthrobotryaceae, Orbiliales, Orbiliomycetidae, Orbiliomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.

Notes: Orbilia was established based on teleomorphs and world-wide in distribution (Fries 1836; Nannfeldt 1932). It is the largest genus with over 400 described species in the family Orbiliaceae (Quijada et al. 2012, 2016; Jaklitsch et al. 2016; Baral et al. 2017, 2021). Nematode-trapping fungi and the asexual morphs linked to many other genera have been isolated from apothecia of different Orbilia species (Pfister 1994; Chen et al. 2007; Zhang et al. 2020e). In the present study, we follow a recent monograph of Orbiliaceae (Baral et al. 2020), in which Orbilia is considered as the oldest available name of an orbiliaceous sexual morph.

Type species: Orbilia xanthostigma (Fr.) Fr.

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Orbilia.

 

References

Baral HO, Johnston P, Quijada L, Healy R et al. 2021 – Cryptic speciation in Orbilia xanthostigma and O. leucostigma (Orbiliomycetes): an aggregate with worldwide distribution. Mycol Prog 20:1503–1537. 

Baral HO, Weber E, Marson G. 2020 – Monograph of Orbiliomycetes (Ascomycota) based on vital taxonomy. National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg.

Chen J, Xu LL, Liu B, Liu XZ. 2007 – Taxonomy of Dactylella complex and Vermispora. III. Generic concepts based on morphology and ITS sequences data. Fungal Divers 26:73–83.

Fries EM. 1836 – Corpus Florarum provincialium suecicae: I. Floram Scanicam. pp 193–346.

Jaklitsch WM, Voglmayr H. 2016 – Hidden diversity in Thyridaria and a new circumscription of the Thyridariaceae. Stud Mycol 85:35–64.

Nannfeldt J. 1932 – Studien über die Morphologie und Systematik Dernicht–lichenisierten Inoperculaten Discomyceten. Nova Acta Reg Soc Scient Ups Ser 4:8

Pfister DH. 1994 – Orbilia fimicola, a nematophagous discomycete and its Arthrobotrys anamorph. Mycologia 86(3):451–453.

Quijada L, Baral HO, Beltrán-Tejera E. 2012 – New species of Orbilia (Orbiliales) from arid ecosystems of the Canary Islands. Nova Hedwigia 96:237–248.

Quijada L, Baral HO, Beltrán-Tejera E. 2016 – A revision of the genus Orbilia in the Canary Islands. Phytotaxa 284:231–261.

 

Entry by

Sheng-Nan Zhang, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Informational Biology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, P.R. China., Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand., Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand.

 

Published online 18 September 2026

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