Fungalpedia – Note 266, Ornasporonites (Fossil Fungi)
Ornasporonites Ramanujam & Rao.
Citation when using this data: Saxena RK & Hyde KD. 2024 (in prep) – Fungalpedia, Fossil Fungi.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig. 1
Classification: Fossil Fungi, Incertae sedis, Phragmosporae
The monotypic fossil genus Ornasporonites was instituted by Ramanujam & Rao (1978) from the Quilon and Warkalli beds (Miocene, 23–5 mya) of Alleppey, Kerala, India. The genus includes brownish yellow to pale yellow, tetracellate, and fusiform to barrel-shaped spores (45-63 x 35-42 μm). Cells are unequal in size; basal and apical cells are much smaller than the two central cells. The spores have three transverse septa; central septum straight whereas other two septa curved. The spores are diporate containing one simple pore at each end along its long axis. Spore wall (less than 1 μm thick) is rugulate-reticuloid with flat muri and irregular meshes.
Type Species: Ornasporonites inaequalis Ramanujam & Rao 1978.
Figure 1 – Ornasporonites inaequalis. Scale bar = 10 μm. Redrawn from Ramanujam & Rao (1978).
Reference
Ramanujam CGK, Rao KP. 1978 – Fungal spores from the Neogene strata of Kerala in South India: 291–304. In: Bharadwaj DC et al. (Editors) – Proceedings of the 4th International Palynological Conference, Lucknow 1976–77, Volume 1, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow.
Entry by
Ramesh K. Saxena, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India
(Edited by Kevin D. Hyde, Samaneh Chaharmiri-Dokhaharani, & Achala R. Rathnayaka)
Published online 21 May 2024