Fungalpedia – Note 2432, Pithomyces
Pithomyces. Berk. & Broome.
Citation when using this data: Dong W et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank
Classification: Astrosphaeriellaceae, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic in terrestrial or freshwater habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata dark opaque, solitary to gregarious, erumpent to superficial, mammiform to conical, with ruptured, reflexed, stellate, host remnants around the base, uniloculate, glabrous, brittle, carbonaceous, with an indistinct ostiole. Peridium unequal thickness, poorly developed at the base, composed of thick, dark brown to black cells. Pseudoparaphyses dense, trabeculate, filiform, hyaline, sparsely septate. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical, with furcate pedicel, apically rounded. Ascospores overlapping biseriate, pale brown to dark brown, fusiform with acute ends, septate, smooth-walled (Pratibha and Prabhugaonkar 2015; Wanasinghe et al. 2018a). Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Conidiophores mononematous, micronematous, mostly intercalary, sometimes denticulate, aseptate. Conidiogenous cells mono or polyblastic, hyaline to light brown, smooth. Conidia solitary, brown to black, obovate to oblong, verruculose to spinulose, transversely septate (Pratibha and Prabhugaonkar 2015; Wanasinghe et al. 2018a).
Notes: Pithomyces is similar to Astrosphaeriellaceae members in having dark, carbonaceous ascomata with a poorly developed base and fusiform ascospores (Liu et al. 2011; Phookamsak et al. 2015b; Wanasinghe et al. 2018a; Jayasiri et al. 2019). Pithomyces clustered in Astrosphaeriellaceae with low bootstrap support (Jayasiri et al. 2019), but morphologically belongs to Astrosphaeriellaceae.
Over 40 epithets are listed in Index Fungorum (2020), but only three have sequence data, viz. Pithomyces caryotae Wanas. et al., P. flavus and P. licualae Wanas. et al. Pithomyces flavus was found on the natural substratum associated with its sexual morph Astrosphaeriella vesuvius, which was confirmed in the phylogenetic analysis (Pratibha and Prabhugaonkar 2015). Wanasinghe et al. (2018a) found the asexual morphs of P. caryotae and P. licualae from culture, respectively. The asexual morphs of three species share similar morpholigical characters in having obovate, septate, pigmented and rough-walled conidia (Pratibha and Prabhugaonkar 2015; Wanasinghe et al. 2018a). Pithomyces flavus was recorded from freshwater habitats (Cai et al. 2002a; Hu et al. 2013), but not confirmed by molecular data.
Type species: Pithomyces flavus Berk. & Broome
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Pithomyces.
References
Hu DM, Liu F, Cai L (2013) Biodiversity of aquatic fungi in China. Mycology 4:125–168
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