Fungalpedia – Note 2023, Pleosporales

 

Pleosporales. Luttr. ex M.E. Barr.

Citation when using this data: Hongsanan S et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank

Classification: Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi

 

Pleosporales is the largest order in the Dothideomycetes, comprising a quarter of all dothideomycetous species (Hyde et al. 2013, Liu et al. 2017a). Luttrell (1955) invalidly introduced the order Pleosporales and later validly established by Barr (1987b), based on the family Pleosporaceae with the type species Pleospora herbarum (Barr 1987a). Pleosporalean species show a cosmopolitan distribution in worldwide, as epiphytes, saprobes, endophytes or parasites, pathogens, hyperparasites on fungi or insects and or as lichenized fungi (Zhang et al. 2012b, Hyde et al. 2013, Wanasinghe et al. 2018c, Mapook et al. 2020). Pleosporales are characterised by perithecioid ascomata typically with a papilla and bitunicate, generally fissitunicate asci bearing mostly septate ascospores of different colours and shapes, with or without a gelatinous sheath (Zhang et al. 2012b, Hyde et al. 2013, Jaklitsch & Voglmayr 2016, Jaklitsch et al. 2018b). Asexual morphs of the Pleosporales are usually coelomycetous, but also can be hyphomycetous (Zhang et al. 2012b, Hyde et al. 2013). Hyde et al. (2013) included 41 families in Pleosporales while in a recent study by Wijayawardene et al. (2018) listed 75 families in Pleosporales. Based on both morphology and phylogeny evidence, Pleosporales comprises 91 families in this study. The divergence time for Pleosporales is estimated as 205 MYA (stem age)

 

Type family: Pleosporaceae Nitschke, Verh. naturh. Ver. preuss. Rheinl. 26: 74 (1869).

 

References

Barr ME. 1987a – New taxa and combinations in the Loculoascomycetes. Mycotaxon 29, 501–505.

Barr ME. 1987b – Prodromus to class Loculoascomycetes. Amherst, Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts, USA

Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Liu J-K, Ariyawansa H et al. 2013 – Families of Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity 63, 1–313.

Jaklitsch WM, Fournier J, Voglmayr H. 2018b – Two unusual new species of Pleosporales: Anteaglonium rubescens and Atrocalyx asturiensis. Sydowia 70, 129–140.

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

Liu JK, Hyde KD, Jeewon R, Phillips AJ et al. 2017a – Ranking higher taxa using divergence times: a case study in Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity 84, 75–99.

Luttrell ES. 1955 – The ascostromatic Ascomycetes. Mycologia 47, 511–532.

Mapook A, Hyde KD, McKenzie EHC, Gareth Jones EBG et al. 2020 – Taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungi associated with the invasive weed Chromolaena odorata (Siam weed). Fungal Diversity 101, 1–175.

Wanasinghe DN, Phukhamsakda C, Hyde KD, Jeewon R et al. 2018c – Fungal diversity notes 709–839: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa with an emphasis on fungi on Rosaceae. Fungal Diversity 89, 1–236.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Lumbsch HT, Liu JK et al. 2018 – Outline of Ascomycota: 2017. Fungal Diversity 88, 167–263.

Zhang Y, Crous PW, Schoch CL, Hyde KD. 2012b – Pleosporales. Fungal Diversity 53, 1–221.

 

Entry by

Sinang Hongsanan, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Plant Epigenetics, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Microbial Genetic Engineering, College of Life Science and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People’s Republic of China, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50002, Thailand

 

Published online 23 March 2026 

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