Fungalpedia – Note 2095, Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae
Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae Phookamsak & K.D. Hyde
Citation when using this data: Hongsanan S et al. 2020 – Fungalpedia, Ascomycota.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Ostropales, Ostropomycetidae, Lecanoromycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Saprobic on bamboo, mangroves or palms. Sexual morph: Ascostromata brown to dark brown, scattered, solitary to gregarious, immersed to erumpent through host surface by papilla, slightly conical or hemisphaerical to lenticular, uni- to bi-loculate, coriaceous, ostiolate, papillate, or with short to long neck. Peridium of unequal thickness, thick at the sides, composed of hyaline to dark brown peudoparenchymatous cells, comprising host cells plus fungal tissue, inner layer arranged in textura angularis to textura prismatica, outer layer arranged in textura prismatica to textura porrecta or arranged in textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising trabeculate pseudoparaphyses. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, clavate to cylindric-clavate, pedicellate, apically rounded, with ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping 1–3-seriate, fusiform with rounded or acute ends, hyaline or brown to reddish brown, septate, constricted at the septum, with or without striations, or with longitudinal ridges towards the ends, with or without mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiomata pycnidial, scattered, solitary, immersed, conical or hemisphaerical to globose, ostiolate. Pycnidial walls of unequal thickness, composed of dark brown to black, pseudoparenchymatous cells, arranged in textura angularis to textura intricata. Conidiophores arising from the basal cavity, cylindrical, unbranched or branched, reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, phialidic, discrete, hyaline, cylindric-clavate or ampulliform, septate, smooth-walled. Conidia globose to subglobose, or oblong, hyaline, aseptate, smooth-walled.
Notes – Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae was introduced to accommodate a single genus Pseudoastrosphaeriella by Phookamsak et al. (2015b). Species of Pseudoastrosphaeriella were previously placed in Astrosphaeriella based on coriaceous ascomata with a papilla or necks and striate ascospores (Hawksworth & Boise 1985). Later Phookamsak et al. (2015b) found that the Pseudoastrosphaeriella species forming a clade apart from Astrosphaeriella in their phylogenetic analyses. Based on morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analyses, Hyde et al. (2017) accommodated Carinispora in Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae, and Phookamsak et al. (2019) introduced another novel genus, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis. Until now, there are three genera accommodated in the family and only Pseudoastrosphaeriella has been reported to have an asexual morph.
Type species: Pseudoastrosphaeriella Phookamsak, Z.L. Luo & K.D. Hyde
Figure 1 – Sexual and asexual morph of Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae from their holotypes. a Ascomata of Carinispora nypae. b Ascomata of Pseudoastrosphaeriella thailandensis. c Ascomata of Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis kaveriana. d Section through ascoma of C. nypae. e Section through ascoma of P. thailandensis (MFLU 11-0180, paratype). f Section through ascoma of P. kaveriana. g, h Asci of C. nypae. i, j Asci of P. thailandensis. k, l Asci of P. kaveriana. m, n, s Ascospores of C. nypae. o, p Ascospores of P. thailandensis. q, r Ascospores of P. kaveriana. t Conidiomata of P. thailandensis on bamboo pieces on WA. u Conidiogenous cells of P. thailandensis. v Section through conidioma of P. thailandensis. w Conidia of P. thailandensis. Scale bars: d = 200 μm, e, f, v = 100 μm, g–l = 20 μm, m–s, u, w = 10 μm.
References
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 25 March 2026