Cercidospora
Cercidospora Körb., Parerga lichenol. (Breslau) 5: 465 (1865).
Index Fungorum number: IF 905; Facesoffungi number: FoF 12159, 33 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), no molecular data available.
Lichenicolous, commensalistic or non-lichenized. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecioid (pseudothecia), externally black, smooth, ostiolate, immersed in the thallus or apothecia of the host; exceptionally, grouped in host deformations (cecidia). Ascomatal wall intensely pigmented near the ostiolum, pigment amorphous and varying from blue-green to violet-brown or black; basal part: usually colorless, but in some taxa pigmented. Wall formed by thin hyphae, with very reduced cells not forming a clearly prosoplectenchymatic structure, rather a textura intricata, between the ascomata of the fungus and the host thallus, a colorless layer formed by cells with a reduced lumen can often be observed. Hamathecium formed by filiform, septate, simple or poorly anastomosed paraphysoids, the abundance of which is variable in the different taxa, I-. Asci typically fissitunicate, cylindrical or cylindrical clavate, with the endoascus slightly thickened at the ascus apex, with a small apical chamber, 2-8-spored, I-, only dextrinoid I-reaction in the plasma of young asci. Ascospores hyaline, rarely non-septate, in most species with one or more transversal septa, oval, ellipsoid or fusiform, heteropolar or not, strongly heteropolar in some taxa, with a distinct, thin, gelatinous perispore, especially visible in young ascospores. Asexual morph: Conidiomata pycnidial, globose. Conidia hyaline, simple, bacilliform (adapted from Navarro-Rosinés et al. 2004).
Type species: Cercidospora ulothii Körb.
Notes: Cercidospora is characterised by perithecioid ascomata immersed in the thallus, intensely pigmented peridium, cylindrical or cylindrical-clavate asci and hyaline, rarely non-septate ascospores. Hafellner (1987) redefined Cercidospora and divided the species based on variations in ascospores, shape and size and occurrence on different hosts. At first, Cercidospora comprised fungi with perithecioid ascomata, characterised by colorless, uniseptate ascospores and clearly determined interascal filaments (paraphysoids) in the hamathecium. Afterwards, more taxa with pluriseptate ascospores previously referred to Metasphaeria (Hafellner 1987) and species with simple ascospores (NavarroRosinés et al. 2004) were included. Cercidospora is unique and identified by its pigmentation and texture of the peridium, paraphysoids, fissitunicate cylindrical asci and hyaline ascospores comprising thin perispore. The general features of Cercidospora have been described in detail in many studies by Hafellner (1987), Grube and Hafellner (1990), Navarro-Rosinés et al. (2004, 2009). Wijayawardene et al. (2014) listed Cercidospora in Dothideomycetes, genera incertae sedis. Sequence data is lacking for Cercidospora. Therefore, epitypification and molecular phylogeny are needed to confirm the placement of Cercidospora and its species.
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