Pleosporales » Phaeosphaeriaceae

Vittaliana

Vittaliana Devadatha, Nikita, A. Baghela & V.V. Sarma, Cryptogam. Mycol. 40(7): 120 (2019).

Index Fungorum number: IF 556887; Facesoffungi number: FoF 04668, 1 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 1 species with molecular data.

Saprobic on host. Sexual morph: Ascomata semi-immersed to erumpent, globose to subglobose, gregarious to solitary, pyriform, coriaceous, dark brown to black, short-ostiolate. Peridium thick-walled of equal thickness, composed of several layers having an inner stratum of hyaline to light brown, thick-walled cells of textura angularis and an outer stratum of light-brown to dark-brown cells of textura angularis fusing with the host tissues. Hamathecium comprising of unbranched, cellular, hyaline, septate pseudoparaphyses resembling hyphae, anastomosing above the asci and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to clavate, short pedicellate, apically rounded and thickened, lacking an ocular chamber. Ascospores phragmosporous, distoseptate, uni- to biseriate, partially overlapping, constricted at the 4th septum, lower most cells usually longer than other cells, hyaline when young becoming yellow to golden yellow at maturity, smooth-walled, cylindrical, rounded at the apices, tapering to a more narrowly rounded base, lacking mucilaginous sheaths or any ornamentation. Asexual morph: Unknown (adapted from Devadatha et al. 2019).

Type species: Vittaliana mangrovei Devadatha, Nikita, A. Baghela & V.V. Sarma

Notes: Vittaliana is characterised by semi-immersed to erumpent ascomata, cylindrical to clavate asci, and phragmosporous, distoseptate ascospores. Vittaliana resembles Italica in having similar ascomata and asci characters but differs in having ascospores that are phragmosporous, distoseptate, golden yellow when mature and in having an aquatic marine lifestyle while Italica is characterised by having a thin-walled peridium, muriform, yellowish-brown ascospores and occurs in terrestrial habitats (Wanasinghe et al. 2018). Vittaliana also resembles Phaeosphaeriopsis in having globose to subglobose, gregarious ascomata, fissitunicate, cylindrical to clavate, short pedicellate asci, and oblong to cylindrical, phragmosporous ascospores while Phaeosphaeriopsis is characterised by immersed to erumpent ascomata that are frequently surrounded by septate, brown hyphae extending into the host tissues, ascospores that are usually without constriction, apical cells often longer than others, echinulate, punctate or verruculose and surrounded by a thin mucilaginous sheaths. Vittaliana has also been compared to Vagicola in having yellowish distoseptate ascospores constricted at the fourth cell (Thambugala et al. 2017) but differs in having 5–6-distoseptate, rather cylindrical ascospores and lacks a mucilaginous sheath. Vittaliana is well accommodated in Phaeosphaeriaceae based on morphology and multigene phylogenetic analyses. Molecular markers available for Vittaliana are ITS, LSU, SSU, RPB2 and TEF-1.

 

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