Ascomycota, genera » Ascomycota, incertae sedis

Asteromella

Asteromella Pass. & Thüm., in Thümen, Mycoth. Univ., cent. 17: no. 1689 (1880)

Apiosporella Speg., Anal. Mus. nac. Hist. nat. B. Aires 23: 106 (1912)

Aplosporidium Speg., Anal. Mus. nac. Hist. nat. B. Aires 23: 130 (1912)

Phyllonochaeta Gonz. Frag. & Cif., Boln Real Soc. Españ. Hist. Nat., Biologica 27: 171 (1927)

Plectophoma Höhn., Sber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-naturw. Kl., Abt. 1 116: 639 (1907)

Porterula Speg., Revta Chil. Hist. nat. 24: 13 (1920)

Stictochorella Höhn., Ber. dt. bot. Ges. 35(3): 253 (1917)

Stictochorellina Petr., Annls mycol. 20(5/6): 337 (1922)

Index Fungorum, MycoBank, GenBank

Classification: incertae sedis, Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota, Fungi

 

Asteromella species are epifoliar fungi which form blackened circular areas on leaves. The mycelium is immersed, hyaline or pale brown, branched and septate. The sexual morph of this species have not been reported. The asexual morph is characterised by immersed conidiomata, which are dark brown, globose to subglobose, unilocular and occur singly or in groups. The ostiole is papillate and circular, located in the center. The conidiomatal wall is composed of brown, thick-walled cells, primarily textura angularis. Conidiophores are formed from the inner cells of the conidiomata wall, which are hyaline, cylindrical, 1-3 septate and branched at base. Conidiogenous cells are hyaline, enteroblastic, phialidic, cylindrical or conical to globose or subglobose, primarily integrated and rarely discrete. Conidia are hyaline, smooth-walled, cylindrical to oval, aseptate and eguttulate (Sutton 1980, Vanev and van der Aa 1998, Ruszkiewicz-Michalska 2016, Li et al. 2020).

 

Type species: Asteromella ovata Thüm., Mycoth. Univ., cent. 17: no. 1689 (1880)

Notes: Asteromella was introduced by Passerini and Thümen (1880) based on Asteromella ovata as the type species. Astrospora species are generally considered to be the microconidial or spermogonial state of Mycosphaerella species (Vanev and Van Der Aa 1998, Crous et al. 2009). Ruszkiewicz-Michalska (2016) provides a detailed account of the history and generic concepts of the genus. Pem et al. (2019) re-examined the holotype specimen of Asteromella ovata from the fungal herbarium collections of Swedish Museum of Natural History and compared morphological characters with the original specimen. They retain the genus to Dothideomycetes genera incertae sedis due to its “Phoma” like conidia and limited morphological characteristics. Currently, there are 226 species names of Asteromella listed in Species Fungorum (May, 2024). However, molecular data are rare in Asteromella, only ten sequences are available in GenBank (May, 2024). Therefore more collections are necessary to provide molecular data as molecular studies are necessary to clarify the generic concept of Asteromella. The updated taxonomic treatment of this genus is genera incertae sedis, in Dothideomycetes (Wijayawardene et al. 2022).

For all accepted species: search in Species Fungorum Asteromella.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asteromella ovata (redrawn from Sutton 1980) a Vertical section of conidioma. b Conidia. c Conidiophores, conidiogenous cells and developing conidia. Scale bars a = 50 μm, c = 10 μm. (Originally published in Li et al. (2020) and republished with authority)

 

 

References :

 

Crous PW, Schoch CL, Hyde KD, Wood AR et al. 2009 – Phylogenetic lineages in the Capnodiales. Stud Mycol 64, 17–47.

Li WJ., McKenzie EH, Liu JK, Bhat DJ et al. 2020 – Taxonomy and phylogeny of hyaline-spored coelomycetes. Fungal Diversity 100, 279–801.

Pem D, Jeewon R, Bhat D J, Doilom M et al. 2019 – Mycosphere notes 275–324: A morpho-taxonomic revision and typification of obscure Dothideomycetes genera (incertae sedis). Mycosphere 10(1), 1115–1246.

Ruszkiewicz-Michalska M. 2016 – The genus Asteromella (Fungi: Ascomycota) in Poland. Monographiae Botanicae 106, 1–164.

Sutton BC. 1980 – The Coelomycetes. Fungi imperfecti with pycnidia, acervuli and stromata. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew.

Thümen FV. 1880 – Mycotheca Universalis, Centurie 17 (1601–1700). Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou.

Vanev SG, van der Aa HA. 1998 – An annotated list of the published names in Asteromella. Persoonia 17, 47–67.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Dai DQ, Sánchez-García ML et al. 2022 – Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa–2021. Mycosphere 13(1), 53–453.

 

Entry by Chao Chen^1,2,3

Edited by Kevin D. Hyde^1,3 & Ishara S. Manawasinghe¹

 

¹Innovative Institute for Plant Health, Key Laboratory of Green Prevention and Control on Fruits and Vegetables in South China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China.

²Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.

³Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand; School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

 

Published online 2024-May 30.

 

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