Jahnulales » Aliquandostipitaceae

Ascagilis

Ascagilis K.D. Hyde

Index Fungorum number: IF 21262

 

Saprobic on submerged wood. Sexual morph: Ascomata semi-immersed or superficial, solitary, scattered or gregarious, globose or subglobose, coriaceous, black, ostiolate. Peridium comprising several layers of thin-walled, brown, angular cells. Pseudoparaphyses numerous, cellular, hyaline, thin, septate, branched. Asci 8-spored, clavate, obclavate, broadly or narrowly cylindrical, fissitunicate, sometimes expanding 4–5 times longer than original length, with an ocular chamber and ring. Ascospores bi- to tri-seriate, 1-septate, brown, mostly with a refractive mucilaginous pad at each end. Asexual morph: Undetermined. (Descriptions from Dong et al. 2020)

 

Notes: Ascagilis was introduced to accommodate a jahnula-like species, A. bipolaris, characterized by clavate to cylindrical asci with an ocular chamber and ring and fusiform to ellipsoidal, 1-septate, brown ascospores with a pad at each end (Hyde 1992). Ascagilis was suppressed since the type species A. bipolaris was transferred to Jahnula (Hyde and Wong 1999) and they thought the fusiform to ellipsoidal ascospores with bipolar pads of Ascagilis was insufficient to separate these two genera. Jahnula has been shown to be polyphyletic in previous publications (Hyde et al. 2013, 2017, 2019; Huang et al. 2018) and in this study. The clade comprising A. bipolaris and six other species is phylogenetically distant from Jahnula sensu stricto. Additionally, most species including A. submersa and A. thailandensis, have a refractive mucilaginous pad at each end, which is lacking in Jahnula sensu stricto. The mucilaginous pad of ascospores is treated as a noticeable characteristic of Ascagilis. (Notes from Dong et al. 2020)

 

Type species:  Ascagilis bipolaris K.D. Hyde, Aust. Syst. Bot. 5(1): 111 (1992)

 

Key to freshwater Ascagilis species (Dong et. 2020)

1. Ascospores without mucilaginous pads.......................... 2

1. Ascospores with mucilaginous pads at one or both ends. 3

2. Ascospores aseptate............................... A. queenslandica

2. Ascospores 1-septate…............................ A. guttulaspora

3. Ascomata sessile…......................................................... 4

3. Ascomata sessile and stalked…....................................... 6

4. Ascospores with inconspicuous pads at one or both ends A. thailandensis

4. Ascospores with conspicuous bipolar pads…..................... 5

5. Ascospores 37.5–41 × 17–19 μm…................. A. submersa

5. Ascospores 42–52 × 16–23 μm…..................... A. bipolaris

6. Ascospores monomorphic…........................ A. sunyatsenii

6. Ascospores dimorphic.............................. A. seychellensis

 

References:

Dong, W, Wang, B, Hyde, KD, McKenzie, EHC et al. (2020) Freshwater Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity

Huang SK, Maharachchikumbura SSN, Jeewon R, Bhat DJ et al. (2018) Morphological and molecular taxonomy of Jahnula dianchia sp. nov. (Jahnulales) from submerged wood in Dianchi Lake, Yunnan, China. Mycological Progress 17, 547–555

Hyde KD (1992b) Tropical Australian freshwater fungi. I. Some ascomycetes. Aust Syst Bot 5:109–116

Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Liu JK, Ariyawansa H et al. (2013) Families of Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity 63, 1–313

Hyde KD, Norphanphoun C, Abreu VP, Bazzicalupo A et al.(2017) Fungal diversity notes 603–708: taxonomic and phylogenetic notes on genera and species. Fungal Diversity 87, 1–235

Hyde KD, Tennakoon DS, Jeewon R, Bhat DJ et al. (2019) Fungal diversity notes 1036–1150: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa. Fungal Diversity 96, 1–242

Hyde KD, Wong SW (1999) Tropical Australian freshwater fungi. XV. The ascomycete genus Jahnula, with five new species and one new combination. Nova Hedwigia 68, 489–510

 

Recent Genus

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Neohelicomyces

Recent Species

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