Genus

Ophiodeira

Species

monosemeia

Author

Kohlm. & Volkm.-Kohlm., Can. J. Bot. 66(10): 2062 (1988)

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy:

Description

Ophiodeira Kohlm. & Volkm.-Kohlm., Can. J. Bot. 66(10): 2062 (1988)

Type species:

Ophiodeira monosemeia Kohlm. & Volkm.-Kohlm., Can. J. Bot. 66(10): 2062 (1988)

Index Fungorum number: Faceoffungi number:

Sexual morph: saprobic, ascomata 125-270 µm high, 210-320 µm long, ellipsoidal, immersed under a thin black stroma, ostiolate, with long necks, light brown, single or gregarious. Necks 60-300 µm long, 25-35 µm in diameter, more or less laterally inserted, curved, dark brown, ostiolar canal filled with short periphyses, piercing through the stroma. Peridium 15-20 µm thick, composed of 5-7 layers of polygonal flat cells with thick walls, forming a textura angularis, merging with the thin-walled pseudoparenchymatous cells. Pseudoparenchyma composed of thin-walled, large polygonal cells, filling the centrum of young ascomata, finally collapsing without forming catenophyses. Asci 45-65 × 15-18 µm, eight-spored, clavate, pedunculate, thin-walled, unitunicate, dissolving before the ascospore maturity, developing successively on an ascogenous tissue at the bottom of the locule, mostly arranged horizontally, parallel to the wood surface. Ascospores 15.8-20.7 × 5.9-7.7 µm, ellipsoidal, one-septate, not constricted at the septum, hyaline, with a single appendage. 1 µm thick, 7-11 µm long, cap-like, probably originating from an apical pore, attached to the apex and side of the ascospore, at first stiff and homogenous, in water becoming soft and banner-like, eventually transforming into a coil of delicate fibers that uncoil and form long, sticky filaments, remaining attached to the ascospore apices with their bases. Asexual morph: Undetermined (Description based on Kohlmeyer & Volkmann-Kohlmeyer (1988)).

Key references:

Hyde KD (1990) A study of vertical zonation of intertidal fungi on Rhizophora apiculata at Kampong Kapok Mangrove, Brunei. Aquatic Botany 36:255-262.

Hyde KD (1990) A comparison of the intertidal mycota of five mangrove tree species. Asian Marine Biology 7:93-107.

Hyde KD, Chalermpongse A, Boonthavikoon T (1990) Ecology of intertidal fungi at Ranong mangrove, Thailand. Transactions of the Mycological Society of Japan 31:17-27.

Hyde KD, Chalermpongse A, Boonthavikoon T (1993) The distribution of intertidal fungi on Rhizophora apiculata in. The marine biology of the South China Sea. Morton B. ed Hong Kong: 643-652.

Jones EBG, Suetrong S, Sakayaroj J, Bahkali AH, Abdel-Wahab MA, Boekhout T, Pang KL (2015) Classification of marine Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Blastocladiomycota and Chytridiomycota. Fungal Diversity 73: 1-72.

Kohlmeyer J, Bebout B, Volkmann-Kohlmeyer B (1995) Decomposition of mangrove wood by marine fungi and teredinids in Belize. P.S.Z.N.I. Marine Ecology 16:27-39.

Kohlmeyer J, Volkmann-Kohlmeyer, B (1988) Ophiodeira gen. nov. (Halosphaeriales) and a survey of higher marine fungi from Saint Croix (Virgin Islands). Canadian Journal of Botany 66:2062-2067.

Maharachchikumbura SSN, Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Mckenzie EHC, Huang SK, Abdel-Wahab MA et al. (2015) Towards a natural classification and backbone tree for Sordariomycetes. Fungal Diversity 72: 199-299.

Pang KL, Vrijmoed LLP, Kong RYC, Jones EBG (2003) Lignincola and Nais, polyphyletic genera of the Halosphariales (Ascomycota). Mycological Progress 2:29-39.

Sakayaroj J, Pang KL, Jones EBG (2011) Multi-gene phylogeny of the Halosphaeriaceae: its ordinal status, relationships between genera and morphological character evolution. Fungal Diversity 46:87-109.

Sarma VV, Vittal BPR. (2000) Biodiversity of mangrove fungi on different substrata of Rhizophora appiculata and Avicennia spp. from Gondavari and Krishna deltas, east coast of India. Fungal Diversity 6:23-41.

Image: Ophiodeira monosemeia. (a) Asomata under a thin stroma. (b) Ascospores with apical appendage. Scale bar: a=20 µm; b=5 µm.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

Intertidal wood of Avicennia germina, Rhizophora apiculata, R. mangle, Sonneratia griffithii and Xylocarpus granata.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Andhra Pradesh India. Belize, Brunei, Saint Croix, Tobago, Thailand.

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: Ophiodeira is a monotypic genus and is a typical member of Halosphaeriaceae. Ascospores of Ophiodeira have a single apical appendage that originate by exudation through a pore in the spore wall, as found in the genera: Halosarpheia, Ascosacculus and Magnisphaera. Ophiodeira differs from the three previous genera by having: thin stroma, deliquescing asci, absence of catenophyses and a single ascospore appendage. Ophiodeira closely resembles Tirispora in that both genera have a single polar appendage that unfurls in water. However, both genera differ in that Ophiodeira has ascomata produced under a thin, black stroma, lacks catenophyses, asci deliquesce at maturity and lacks an apical pore in the ascus (Jones et al. 1994). Ophiodeira formed a monophyletic clade with the four Oceanitis species and is distantly placed from the four mentioned genera (Campbell et al. 2003, Pang et al. 2003, Sakayaroj et al. 2011). Ophiodeira differs from Oceanitis species by having ascomata produced under a thin, black stroma and ellipsoidal ascospores that much smaller than those of Oceanitis species (Dupont et al. 2009). The genus is accepted as a member of the Halosphaeriaceae by Jones et al. (2015) and Maharachchikumbura et al. (2015).

Images

Fig 3