Pleosporales » Didymosphaeriaceae

Julella

Julella Fabre, Annls Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 6, 9: 113. 1879 (1878).

Index Fungorum number: IF 2539; Facesoffungi number: FoF 00038, 6 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 1 species with molecular data.

Saprobic or possibly lichenized. Sexual morph: Ascomata immersed, becoming erumpent to nearly superficial, sphaeroid, black, coriaceous, ostiolate, formed under a clypeus. Ostiole usually widely porate, with a short neck, ostiolar canal filled with periphyses. Peridium two layered, outer wall composed of small, dark brown to black, heavily pigmented, thick-walled cells of textura angularis and fusing with the host tissue to the outside, inner wall comprising broad yellowish-brown cells of textura angularis, thick at the apex and thinner at the base. Hamathecium of dense broad, septate, cellular, pseudo paraphyses anastomosing and branching and embedded in mucilage. Asci 2-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, clavate to cylindrical, with a short, broad, furcated or knob-like pedicel, rounded at apex and without a distinct ocular chamber. Ascospores 2-seriateor partially uniseriate, asymmetric or nearly symmetric, hyaline, obovoid, fusoid, or elongate, multi-septate, muriform, verruculose, thin-walled, surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath, guttulate, constricted at the septa. Asexual morph: Unknown (adapted from Ariyawansa et al. 2014).

Type species: Julella buxi Fabre

Notes: Julella is characterised by immersed, black, coriaceous ascomata, fissitunicate, clavate to cylindrical asci and asymmetric or nearly symmetric, hyaline, obovoid, fusoid, or elongate ascospores surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath. Several taxa of Julella are facultative lichenized with the alga Trentepohlia as the photobiont (Purvis et al. 1992). Julella resembles Peltosphaeria but can be differentiated in having bisporous asci (Barr 1985). Barr (1985) considered Peltosphaeria as a synonym of Julella and listed three species and one variety in Julella. Aptroot and van den Boom (1995) considered Julella as a tropical group of bark saprotrophs and accepted J. lacteal, J. sericea and J. vitrispora in Julella and considered other species as synonyms or transferred them to other genera. Zhang et al. (2012) reported that Julella morphologically resembles members of Montagnulaceae, now known as Didymosphaeriaceae, but can be differentiated based on the hyaline ascospores. Ariyawansa et al. (2014) re-examined the type specimen of J. buxi (S-F5992) and transferred J. avicenniae to Halojullela within a new family Halojulellaceae based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses of LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF1. J. avicenniae differs from J. buxi in having 8-spored and an unusual, distinct, apical apparatus while those of J. avicenniae are 2-spored and lack a well-developed apical apparatus. Ariyawansa et al. (2014) reported that putative strains of J. fallaciosa (MPN141 and MPN547) cluster in Trypetheliales and might be wrongly identified, hence did not consider these strains in their phylogenetic analysis. Ariyawansa et al. (2014) also added Julella to Didymosphaeriaceae based on morphology namely immersed ascomata formed under a clypeus, short neck, 2-layered peridium comprising cells of textura angularis and cylindric or oblong asci that are pedicellate, often with an ocular chamber and oblong to narrowly oblong muriform ascospores. Julella is currently a distinct genus in Didymosphaeriaceae but more collections with sequence data are needed to confirm this taxonomic placement. Molecular markers available for Julella are LSU, RPB2, SSU, TEF-1 and mtSSU.

 

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