Melomastia
Melomastia Nitschke ex Sacc., Atti Soc. Veneto-Trent. Sci. Nat., Padova, Sér. 4 4: 90 (1875).
Index Fungorum number: IF 3118; Facesoffungi number: FoF 07673, 24 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 2 species with molecular data.
Saprobic on host. Sexual morph: Ascomata raised, immersed, globose, black; in vertical section obpyriform, with a central periphysate ostiolar canal. Peridium comprising several layers of brown to dark brown, compressed cells. Paraphyses filamentous, flexuose, numerous. Asci 8-spored, cylindrical, thick-walled, non fissitunicate, pedicellate, apically rounded, with a J-, subapical ring. Ascospores uniseriate, ovoid, hyaline, 2-septate, strongly constricted at the septa, with a lipid globule in each cell, surrounded by a gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph: Unknown (adapted from Norphanphoun et al. 2017).
Type species: Melomastia friesii Nitschke
Notes: Melomastia is characterised by raised, immersed, globose, black ascomata, cylindrical asci with a J- subapical ring, and ovoid, hyaline, 2-septate ascospores surrounded by a gelatinous sheath. Schröter (1894) considered M. friesii as a synonym of M. mastoidea. The taxonomic placement of Melomastia has been controversial and treated differently by authors (Barr 1989, 1994, Hawksworth et al. 1995, Kirk et al. 2008, Lumbsch & Huhndorf 2010). Barr (1989) referred Melomastia in Clypeosphaeriaceae. Barr (1994) later transferred Melomastia to Pleurotremataceae based on nonfissitunicate unitunicate ascus. Lumbsch and Huhndorf (2010), Maharachchikumbura et al. (2015, 2016) and Wijayawardene et al. (2017) treated Melomastia in Ascomycetes, genera incertae sedis. Maharachchikumbura et al. (2015) referred Melomastia to Sordariomycetes, genera incertae sedis and accepted only Pleurotrema, the type genus in Pleurotremataceae without detailed explanation. Norphanphoun et al. (2017) introduced Melomastia italica based on morphology of ellipsoid, granular, 2-septate, hyaline and glistening ascospores enclosed in a gelatinous sheath and phylogeny incorporating SSU and LSU sequence data and provided an account of Melomastia. Norphanphoun et al. (2017) reported that Melomastia does not belong to Sordariomycetes as initially reported but is a member of Dothideomycetes (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2015, Hyde et al. 2016). Melomastia is morphologically and phylogenetically a distinct genus in Pleurotremataceae. Molecular markers available for Melomastia include ITS, LSU, SSU, and TEF-1.
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