Fungalpedia – Note 3012, Parachalara
Parachalara. W.P. Wu & Y.Z. Diao.
Citation when using this data: Wenping Wu & Yongzhao Diao. 2023– Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Pezizellaceae, Helotiales, Leotiomycetidae, Leotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Etymology: Refers to its morphological similarity with Chalara fungorum in reduced conidiophores and aseptate conidia.
Diagnosis: Similar to Chalara in phialides with cylindrical collarettes and aseptate, cylindrical conidia, but phylogenetically distinct. Also similar to Nagrajchalara, but differs in producing aseptate conidia.
Description in pure culture on PDA: Colonies on PDA effuse, rounded or lobbed at margin, aerial mycelium poorly developed, brown, reverse dark brown to blackish. Mycelium partly immersed and partly superficial, composed of subhyaline, pale brown, septate and branched hyphae with smooth and thin wall. Anamorph: Stroma absent. Setae absent. Conidiophores formed from superficial hyphae or aggregated cells, erect, straight or slightly flexuous, obclavate, subcylindrical, 1-septate, medium brown, smooth. Conidiogenous cells integrated, terminal, obclavate, lageniform, medium brown to brown, smooth; transition from venter to collarette abrupt; venter cylindrical, subellipsoidal, medium brown; collarette cylindrical, brown, versicolorous, basal part darker than venter and other part of collarettes. Conidia endogenous, extruded in short chains, cylindrical, base truncate, apex rounded or flattened, hyaline, aseptate, guttulate. Teleomorph: Unknown.
Ecology/substrate/host: Saprobe on dead leaves of unidentified tree.
Geographical distribution: China.
Notes: In the phylogenetic analyses with different datasets of combined sequences of SSU/LSU and LSU/ITS, the strain CGMCC3.23361 formed a distinct lineage in the phylogenetic trees. Only in the tree generated from the dataset with only ITS sequences of Nagrajchalara, the species was nested among other Nagrajchalara species, but as a distinct lineage. Although also with aseptate conidia, it was phylogenetically closer to Nagrajchalara than Chalara s. str.. Based on both morphology and phylogeny, new genus Parachalara is established to accommodate this fungus. Parachalara is morphologically similar with Chalara, Nagrajchalara, Neochalara and Stipitochalara, but phylogenetically distinct. The septate conidia in Nagrajchalara and Neochalara clearly distinguish them from Parachalara (the aseptate conidia). Stipitochalara also produces aseptate conidia, but in this genus the conidiophores are well-developed and composed of a basal stalk and a terminal phialide, while in Parachalara the conidiophores are reduced to a basal cell and a terminal phialide (Nag Raj and Kendrick 1975). Morphologically Parachalara is indistinguishable from some existing species of Chalara s. str. with the reduced conidiophores and aseptate conidia, they can only be distinguished by the phylogenetic analysis.
Type species: Parachalara olekirkii W.P. Wu & Y.Z. Diao, Fungal Diversity 119: 312 (2023)
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Parachalara.
Figure 1 – Parachalara olekirkii (ex-type strain 43656 from Wu1559d, holotype). a–j Conidiophores and phialidic conidiogenous cells. k–p Conidia. q Superficial mycelium and conidiophores. Scale bar: 10 μm for a–d; 5 μm for e–q.
References
Entry by
Wenping Wu, R&D Center, Novozymes China, No. 14 Xin Xi Lu, Shangdi Zone, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, People’s Republic of China
Published online 1 September 2026