Asterinales » Asterinaceae » Asterina

Asterina melastomatis

Asterina melastomatis Lév., Annls Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3 3: 59 (1845).

           Index Fungorum number: IF 218181; Facesoffungi number: FoF 11853, Fig. 1

Description: see Hyde et al. (2013) and Hongsanan et al. (2014).

Material considered: see Hyde et al. (2013) and Hongsanan et al. (2014).

Fig. 1 Asterina melastomatis (PC 0084475). a, b Appearance of thyriothecia on the leaf surface. c Squash mount of thyriothecia. d, e Asci. f–i Ascospores. Scale bars: b = 500 μm, c = 100 μm, d, e = 50 μm, f–i = 20 μm.

Importance and distribution

Species of Asterina are pathogenic biotrophs, which look like black colonies on the surface of plants and cause minor damage by entering host cells for the uptake of nutrients (Hongsanan et al. 2014). Asterina species cause black mildew or black spots on several economically important plants, e.g. black mildew on California-laurel in California, A. delitescens black spot on red bay, A. diplopoides black spot on leucotho, A. orbicularis black spot on American holly and Ilex species (Westcotts Plant Disease 2022). There are 916 Asterina epithets in Index Fungorum (2022), but several species have been transferred to other genera such as Asterinella, Asterolibertia, Asterostomella, Bheemamyces, Calothyrium, Calyptra, Clypeolella, Davidiella, Dictyopeltis, Echidnodella, Limacinula, Meliola, Ontostheca, Phaeocryptopus, Phaeodimeriella, Placoasterella, Placoasterina, Prillieuxina, Rhytidenglerula, Seynesia, Stomatogene, Stomiopeltis, Trichodothis, Venturia and Vizella. Asterina comprises more than 100 species known on a wide range of hosts such as Acalypha macrostachya var. hirsutissima (Euphorbiaceae), Acronychia pedunculata (Rutaceae), Adenostemma viscosum (Asteraceae), Adina lobata (Rubiaceae), Afzelia quanzensis (Fabaceae), Caloncoba schweinfurthii (Flacourtiaceae), Claoxylon australe (Euphorbiaceae), Hyptis sp. (Lamiaceae), Kiggelaria africana (Achariaceae), Loranthus sp. (Loranthaceae), Oncoba sp. (Salicaceae), Psychotria sp. (Rubiaceae), Rondeletia affinis (Rubiaceae), Xylotheca kraussiana (Achariaceae) and many more. Asterina is reported from Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda), America (Costa Rica, Mexico, The United States), Asia (India, Indonesia, Java, Philippines) and Australia. Asterina has high diversity but with taxonomic problems since several species lack sequence data.

 

References

Firmino A, Vélez Zambrano S, Weingart R, Dianese J. 2019 − Fungi from the “Lost World”: Novel Asterinaceae from the Ricardo Franco Hills (Brazil), with a worldwide key to Lembosia species on Melastomataceae. Phytotaxa 409, 129–145.

Hofmann TA. 2013 − Nuevos reportes de species de Asterina (Asterinaceae, Dothideomycetes) y sus estados asexuales para América Central Panamá. Puente Biológico 5, 51–79.

Hongsanan S, Hyde KD, Phookamsak R, Wanasinghe DN et al. 2020a – Refined families of Dothideomycetes: Dothideomycetidae and Pleosporomycetidae. Mycosphere 11,1553–2107

Hongsanan S, Li YM, Liu JK, Hofmann T et al. 2014 – Revision of genera in Asterinales. Fungal Diversity 68, 1– 68.

Horst R. 2013 − Westcott's Plant Disease Handbook. In: Westcott's Plant Disease Handbook (pp. 269−283). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2141-8_39

Hosagoudar VB, Abraham TK. 2000 − A list of Asterina Lev. Species based on the literature. The Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 24, 557–587.

Hosagoudar VB, Archana GR, Agarwal DK. 2007 – Studies on foliicolous fungi – XXVIII. Indian Phytopathology 60, 345−349.

Hosagoudar VB, Thomas J, Robin PJ. 2009 – Studies on foliicolous fungi-XXX: fungi of Shillong, Meghalaya. Indian Journal of Science and Technology 2, 2–7.

Hosagoudar VB. 2002 − Studies on foliicolous fungi VI. Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi 18, 123–127.

Hosagoudar VB. 2004 − Studies on foliicolous fungi - VII. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 28, 187–195.

Hosagoudar VB. 2010 – Anamorphs of Asterinales. Journal of Theoretical Biology 6(3 and 4), 199–211.

Hosagoudar VB. 2012 – Asterinales of India. Mycosphere 2, 617–852.

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

Rehm H. 1901 – Beiträge zur Pilzflora von Südamerika. XII. Sphaeriales. Hedwigia 40, 100–124.

Sivanesan A. 1984 – The Bitunicate Ascomycetes and their anamorphs, pp 701.

Spegazzini C. 1888 – Fungi Guaranitici. Pugillus II. Annales de la Socieda Científica Argentina 26, 5–74.

Sydow H. 1929 – Fungi in Itinere costaricensi collecti. Annals mycologie 25(1/2), 137.

Theissen F. 1912 – Fragmenta Brasilica. IV nebst Bemerkungen über einige andere Asterina-Arten. Annals mycologie 10, 1–32.

Theissen F. 1913 – Die Gattung Asterina.  Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft in Wien 7, 1– 130.

von Arx JA, Müller E. 1975 – A re-evaluation of the bitunicate Ascomycetes with keys to families and genera. Studies in Mycology 9, 1–159.

 

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