Purpurepithecium
Purpurepithecium Jayasiri & K.D. Hyde, in Jayasiri et al., Cryptog. Mycol. 38(2): 246 (2017).
Index Fungorum number: IF 553000; Facesoffungi number: FoF 03109, 2 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 2 species with molecular data.
Saprobic on scale of pine cones on ground. Sexual morph: Ascomata hysterothecia, erumpent to superficial, scattered to gregarious, sometimes overlapping, navicular, flexuous, with a prominent longitudinal slit. Epithecium dense, swollen tip, branched, with purple pigmentation. Peridium wide, equally thick, narrower at base within the substrate, widest at mid-point, carbonaceous and brittle when dry. Pseudoparaphyses filamentous, septate, persistent, wide, hyaline in mass, branched above. Asci, cylindrical to clavate, bitunicate, short-pedicellate. Ascospores asymmetric, when young, symmetric when mature, hyaline to dark brown, transversely septate or muriform, with curved ends, septation variable, usually 7–10 longitudinal and many vertical septa, constricted at septa, gelatinous sheath absent. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous, punctiform, pulvinate, granular, black, shining. Mycelium immersed in the media, composed of branched, septate, smooth, subhyaline to pale brown, hyphae. Conidiophores pale brown, short, slender, articulated. Conidiogenous cells, hyaline, holoblastic, cells integrated, terminal, determinate. Conidia solitary, irregular, clavate, compact, two cells to muriform, 3–4 rows rows of transverse septa, constricted at the septa, dark and thickly banded at the septa, number of cells per conidium 2–11, reddish-brown to brown, smooth. Basal cell subhyaline to pale brown, cuneiform, with thinner wall (adapted from Jayasiri et al. 2017).
Type species: Purpurepithecium murisporum Jayasiri & K.D. Hyde
Notes: Purpurepithecium resembles Glonium in producing hysterothecia, with persistent narrow cellular pseudoparaphyses in a gelatinous matrix, branched with darkened apices and clavate to cylindric asci (Boehm et al. 2009a). Purpurepithecium differs from Glonium in having navicular hysterothecia, that are scattered to gregarious, with a prominent longitudinal slit, purple pigmented epithecium and hyaline to dark brown muriform ascospores. Purpurepithecium is morphologically and phylogenetically a distinct genus in Gloniaceae. Molecular markers available for Purpurepithecium are LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF-1.
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