Pleosporales » Astrosphaeriellaceae

Xenoastrosphaeriella

Xenoastrosphaeriella Jayasiri, E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde, in Jayasiri et al., Mycosphere 10(1): 36 (2019).

Index Fungorum number: IF 555536; Facesoffungi number: FoF 05237, 1 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 1 species with molecular data.

Saprobic on bamboo and palms. Sexual morph: Ascostromata dark opaque, gregarious, erumpent to superficial, conical with ruptured, reflexed, stellate, host remnants around the base, uniloculate, glabrous, brittle, carbonaceous, ostiole central, with pore-like opening. Peridium unequal thickness, poorly developed at the base, thick at the sides towards the apex, composed of thick, opaque and melanized cells. Hamathecium 1–2 μm, composed of dense, branching, rough-walled, distinctly septate, trabeculate pseudo paraphyses, anastomosing among the asci, embedded in a hyaline gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, cylindrical, subsessile to short pedicellate, apically rounded with an ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping 1–2-seriate, brown to reddish brown, fusiform with acute ends, 3-septate, slightly constricted at the central septum, widest at the middle, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Unknown (adapted from Jayasiri et al. 2019).

Type species: Xenoastrosphaeriella tornata (Cooke) Jayasiri & K.D. Hyde

Notes: Phookamsak et al. (2015) provided molecular data for a reference specimen of X. tornata (MFLUCC 11–0196) as the original specimen is in poor condition. Xenoastrosphaeriella is characterised by dark opaque, gregarious ascostromata, cylindrical, subsessile to short pedicellate asci, overlapping 1–2-seriate ascospores that are brown to reddish brown, fusiform with acute ends, and 3-septate. Xenoastrosphaeriella resembles Astrosphaeriella in having broadly fusiform, reddish brown ascospores but differs in having smaller ascospores with paler end cells (Phookamsak et al. 2015). Jayasiri et al. (2019) proposed the new combination Xenoastrosphaeriella tornata for Astrosphaeriella tornata and introduced Xenoastrosphaeriella based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence. Hongsanan et al. (2020a) synonymized A. trochus as X. trochus based on morphology and phylogeny. Xenoastrosphaeriella is a distinct and well-defined genus in Astrosphaeriellaceae. Molecular markers available for Xenoastrosphaeriella are LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF-1.

 

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