Argynna
Argynna Morgan, J. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist. 18: 41 (1895).
Index Fungorum number: IF 306; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06387, 1 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), no molecular data available.
Saprobic on host. Sexual morph: Ascocarps globose, fuscous to black, non-ostiolate, sessile or on a subiculum. Peridium plectenchymatic with brittle, carbonaceous, hexagonal plates. Asci unitunicate, clavate, thick-walled, lacking an evident apical apparatus, 8-spored, interspersed with branched paraphyses to form a dense palisade layer lining the sides and base of the ascocarp. Ascospores papilionaceous, z-celled, light brown, with a dark band at the septa. Asexual morph: Unknown (adapted from Shearer and Crane 1980).
Type species: Argynna polyhedron (Schwein.) Morgan
Notes: Argynna is characterised by globose, fuscous to black, non-ostiolate ascocarps, clavate, thick-walled asci and papilionaceous, z-celled, light brown ascospores. Morgan (1895) placed Argynna in Pleosporaceae based on the medium-sized pseudothecia, tenacious pseudoparaphyses, septate brown ascospores and occurrence on dead twigs. Argynna resembles Pontoporia but can be differentiated based on the hyaline basal cushion in the centrum in which the asci develop, shape and wall of the ascospores which is not discerned into a thin, splitting, dark brown exospore and a thick hyaline endospore (Shearer et al. 1980). Argynna also differs from Pontoporia in having a freshwater habitat while Pontoporia has a marine lifestyle. Argynna is morphologically a distinct and type genus of Argynnaceae but molecular data is needed to confirm this taxonomic placement.
Recent News
Recent paper to be publishedRecent Genus
XylopeziaXenosporium
Wettsteinina
Recent Species
Xylopezia hemisphaericaXenosporium mirabile
Wettsteinina gigantospora
