Ochroconis
Ochroconis de Hoog & Arx, Kavaka 1: 57 (1974).
Index Fungorum number: IF 9136; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06349, 24 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 14 species with molecular data.
On synthetic nutrient poor agar (SNA). Mycelium comprising branched, septate, hyaline to pale brown, smooth-walled. Synasexual morph: Hyphae starting to fragment, giving rise to cladophialophora-like synasexual morph. Ramoconidia subcylindrical, 0–2-septate, with 1–2 apical denticles, pale brown, smooth, giving rise to chains of sub-cylindrical conidia (–10), smooth, guttulate, pale brown, 0–1-septate (adapted from Crous et al. 2015). Asexual morph: Conidiophores differentiated, erect, arising at right angles from creeping hyphae, branched at lower septum or not, with 1–3 septa, straight to geniculate-sinuous, brown, thick-walled. Conidiogenous cells terminal or lateral, integrated, subcylindrical, brown with one to several apical conidium bearing denticles, subcylindrical. Conidia solitary, subhyaline to hazel brown, finely verruculose, thin-walled, medianly uniseptate, becoming constricted at septum, obovoid to broadly fusiform or ellipsoid (adapted from Crous et al. 2015).
Type species: Ochroconis constricta (E.V. Abbott) de Hoog & Arx
Notes: Ochroconis is characterised by erect conidiophores, terminal or lateral conidiogenous cells with one to several apical conidium bearing denticles, and solitary, subhyaline to hazel brown, obovoid to broadly fusiform or ellipsoid conidia. Ochroconis mainly accommodates taxa with sympodial conidiogenesis and septate, ellipsoidal conidia. Members of Ochroconis were previously placed in Diplorhinotrichum (Georg et al. 1964), Dactylaria (Bhatt and Kendrick 1968) and Scolecobasidium (Abbott 1927). de Hoog (1985) treated Dactylaria as a heterogeneous complex of genera comprising Dactylaria sensu stricto with four sections Dactylaria, Diplorhinotrichum, Mirandina and Pleurophragmium and 37 related genera comprising Ochroconis and Scolecobasidium making the morphology-based delimitation of Ochroconis problematic (Kralovic and Rhodes 1995). de Hoog and Arx (1973) described Ochroconis to accommodate seven species previously placed under Scolecobasidium and producing unbranched conidia while Scolecobasidium was restricted for species with trilobate conidia. Samerpitak et al. (2014) transferred some species characterised by forked conidia from Scolecobasidium to Ochroconis based on phylogenetic analyses using a set of six gene regions (nuSSU, ITS, nuLSU, ACT1, BT2 and TEF1). Samerpitak et al. (2014) also transferred Ochroconis gallopava to a new genus Verruconis based on ecological traits and phylogeny and accepted 13 species in Ochroconis and 3 in Verruconis. Ochroconis differs from Verruconis in being mesophilic, responsible for infections in cold-blooded animals while Verruconis is thermophilic, responsible for infection in the brain (Samerpitak et al. 2014). Machouart et al. (2014) scrutinized available genes (nuSSU, nuLSU, mtSSU, and RPB2) and reported that both Ochroconis and Verruconis belonged to the order Venturiales, family Sympoventuriaceae. Samerpitak et al. (2015) added Ochroconis globalis found from dwelling house in Germany and provided an updated phylogeny based on nuclear ribosomal DNA genes (nuSSU, ITS, nuLSU) and coding gene fragments (ACT1, BT2, TEF1). Samerpitak et al. (2015) reported that large phylogenetic distances exist among and within members of Ochroconis and Verruconis which suggest occurrence of unknown taxa. All members of Ochroconis have rhexolytic conidial liberation (Ellis 1971). Several authors added new species to Ochroconis (Samerpitak et al. 2013; Tazik et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020). Ochroconis is morphologically and phylogenetically a distinct genus in Sympoventuriaceae. Molecular markers available for Ochroconis are ITS, LSU, SSU, Actin, BTUB and TEF-1.
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