Fungalpedia – Note 3197, Pyrenophora

 

Pyrenophora. Fr., Summa veg. Scand.

Citation when using this data: Jayawardena RS et al. 2023 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1

Classification: Pleosporaceae, Pleosporales, Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi

Pyrenophora is a species-rich genus in Pleosporales which encompasses saprobic and phytopathogenic fungi associated mainly with poaceous hosts. The sexual morphs are characterized by black, thick-walled, subglobose to pyriform ascomata with an apical ostiole and conspicuous dark brown setae. Asci are bitunicate, show a large non-amyloid ring and usually contain eight pale yellowish brown or pale brown, muriform ascospores surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morphs show macronematous, brown, sympodial conidiophores with tretic conidiogenous cells and dematiaceous, rather straight, distoseptate conidia with a dark, non-protruding basal scar. Conidial germination occurs from polar or intermediate cells (Sivanesan 1987). This genus is monophyletic and genetically clearly distinct from other pleosporalean genera with a superficially similar conidial apparatus, such as Bipolaris, Exserohilum and Porocercospora. Multilocus DNA sequence data is currently available for at least 26 Pyrenophora species (Marin-Felix et al. 2019).

Type species: Pyrenophora phaeocomes (Rebent.) Fr., Summa veg. Scand., Sectio Post. (Stockholm): 397 (1849)

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Pyrenophora.

 

Figure 1 –  Pyrenophora verruculosa (SGO 168420, holotype). a, c, d Conidia attached to conidiogenous cells. b Conidium passively released from a conidiogenous cell. e–h Conidia (verruculose ornamentation can be observed in e). I Hyphae with mucilaginous dark brown material. j, k Mycelia with microsclerotia. Scale bars: a–d = 40 μm, e–i = 20 μm, j–k = 45 μm.

References

Marin-Felix Y, Hernandez-Restrepo M, Iturrieta-Gonzalez I, Garcia D, Gene J, Groenewald JZ, Cai L, Chen Q, Quaedvlieg W, Schumacher RK, Taylor PW et al. 2019 –  Genera of phytopathogenic fungi: GOPHY 3. Stud Mycol 94:1–24.

Sivanesan A 1987 – Graminicolous species of Bipolaris, Curvularia, Drechslera, Exserohilum and their teleomorphs. CAB International.

 

Entry by

Jayawardena Ruvishika Shehali, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand.

Published online 11 September 2026

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