Leptodiscella
Leptodiscella Papendorf, Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 53(1): 146 (1969).
Index Fungorum number: IF 8743; Facesoffungi number: FoF 08092, 5 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 5 species with molecular data.
Saprobic on dead leaves. Covering the upper leaf surface with dark mycelium without penetrating host tissues. Sexual morph: Ascomata superficial, solitary or scattered, coriaceous, appearing as circular, scattered, flattened, dark brown to black spots, covering the host, without a subiculum, with a poorly developed basal layer and an irregular margin. Ostiole central. Hamathecium comprising cylindrical to filiform, septate, pseudoparaphyses. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, cylindrical to cylindric-clavate, short pedicel with furcate to obtuse ends, apically rounded with an indistinct ocular chamber. Ascospores uniseriate to bi-seriate, fusiform with acute ends, uniseptate, constricted at the septum, upper cell slightly broader than lower cell, hyaline, guttulate, smooth-walled (adapted from Tennakoon et al. 2021). Asexual morph: Hyphae frequently septate, hyaline, aggregated into ropy bundles and anastomosing freely. Conidiophores one- to many-celled, simple or branched, cells more or less globose or irregular, often aggregated forming disk-like or irregular masses resembling acervuli. Conidia borne directly on hyphae and singly or in groups on cells of conidiophore, sessile or shortly stalked, cylindrical with rounded ends, smooth, thin-walled, hyaline or faintly colored, medianly 1-sepate, occasionally slightly constricted at the central septum, very rarely with 2 or 3 septa, bearing a simple, filamentous setula sub laterally at each end (adapted from Papendorf 1967).
Type species: Leptodiscella africana (Papendorf) Papendorf
Notes: Leptodiscella is characterised by superficial, solitary or scattered ascomata, cylindrical to filiform hamathecium, cylindrical to cylindric-clavate, short pedicellate asci and fusiform with acute ends, uniseptate ascospores. The asexual morph is characterised by one- to many-celled conidiophores, sessile or shortly stalked, cylindrical with rounded ends, anduniseptate conidia borne on conidiophores. Madrid et al. (2012) introduced a new species Leptodiscella brevicatenata, provided a key to Leptodiscella species and suggested the phylogenetic placement of Leptodiscella relatively close to the order Acrospermales based on Neighbor-joining tree constructed with D1/D2 sequence segments of the 28S rRNA gene. Crous et al. (2018) added L. rintelii and showed the placement of Leptodiscella in Muyocopronaceae based on phylogenetic analysis of ITS gene. Tennakoon et al. (2021) recently added L. sexualis isolated from dead leaves of Ficus septica (Moraceae) in Taiwan. Leptodiscella is morphologically and phylogenetically a distinct genus in Muyocopronaceae. Molecular markers available for Leptodiscella include ITS, LSU, SSU, TEF-1 and RPB2.
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