Genus

Lautospora

Species

gigantea

Author

K.D. Hyde & E.B.G. Jones, 1989a. Bot. Mar., 32: 479.

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Diaporthiomycetidae

Order

Lautosporales

Family

Lautosporaceae

Synonymy:

Lautospora K.D. Hyde & E.B.G. Jones, Botanica Marina 32: 479 (1989)

Type species:

 Lautospora gigantea K.D. Hyde & E.B.G. Jones, 1989a. Bot. Mar., 32: 479.

Saprobic on mangrove substrates, sexual morph: Ascomata: 525–584 µm long, 270–363 µm wide, 153–197 µm high, subglobose, in frontal view, fusiform in side view, totally immersed in the substratum, lying horizontal to the wood surface, coriaceous, ostiolate, brown above, light brown to hyaline below, solitary. Peridium: 17–65 µm thick, composed of several layers of thin–walled cells. Hamathecium: (pseudoparaphyses) 5–9 µm thick, cellular, septate, and hyaline. Asci: 360–545 x 45–68 µm, 4–spored, cylindrical, thick–walled. bitunicate with an ocular chamber and ring. Ascospores: 140–195 x 36–45 µm, uniseriate, muriform, fusiform, 18–25 trans–septa, 4–7 longi–septa, hyaline, very thick–walled, wall appearing as a wing–like structure, 3–7.5 µm thick. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

 

Key references:

Borse BD, Bhat DJ, Borse KN, Tuwas AR, Pawar NS (2012). Marine Fungi of India. Broadway Book Centre, India.

 Hyde KD, Jones EBG (1989). Intertidal mangrove fungi from Brunei. Lautospora gigantea gen. et sp. nov., a new loculoascomycete genus from prop roots of Rhizophora spp. Botanica Marina. 32:479–482.

Huhndorf SM, Femando AF, Miller AN, Lodge J (2003). Neotropical Ascomycetes 12. Mirannulata sameulsii gen. et so. Nov., and M. costaricensis sp. nov., new taxa from the Carribbean and elsewhere. Sydowia 55: 172–180.

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, Volkmann–Kohlmeyer B, Eriksson OE (1995). Fungi on Juncus roemerianus 2. New dictyosporous ascomycetes. Botanica Marina. 38:165–174.

 

Key to Lautospora species:

1. On Juncus roemerianus, ascospores 127–210 x 28–57 µm                 L. simillima

1. On mangrove wood ascospores 140–195 x 36–45 µm                        L. gigantea

Type & Location:
Other Specimens:
Substratum:
Saprobic on intertidal and mangrove wood
Habitat:
Distribution:
Brunei, India, Mauritius, Thailand.
Pertinent Literature:
Comments:
NOTES: The genus is very unusual in having very large hyaline muriform ascospores and both species are reported from mangrove substrates. Initially the genus was tentatively referred to Pleosporales (Hyde and Jones 1989), while Kohlmeyer et al. (1995) proposed a new family Lautosporaceae to accommodate the genus. The family was not assigned to any order for lack of molecular data and the genus was assigned to Ascomycotina incertae sedis (Kohlmeyer et al. 1995). LSU sequence data (S. Suetrong, unpublished data) placed Lautospora simillima in the Sordariomycetes in a basal clade to the orders Diaporthales, Xylariales, Microascales and an unnamed clade. L. simillima groups with the neotropical ascomycete Mirannulata sameulsii with weak support but shares few morphological features with this genus (Huhndorf et al. 2003). The Lautospora/Mirannulata clade form a sister group to Verticola confusa and Rhamphoria delicatula (Annulatascaceae) in an unsupported clade. More recently, Suetrong et al. (unpublished) have advanced Lautosporaceae to a new order Lautosporales based on a multigene study and the description of a third species. The family/order are accepted by Jones et al. (2015). Lautospora gigantea was collected on the prop roots of an Avicennia species in Serasa mangrove, Brunei. A second Lautospora species (Lautospora simillima) was introduced by Kohlmeyer et al. (1995) from the salt marsh sedge Juncus roemerianus in North Calorina, USA, while Sueterong et al. (in press) report a new species from Thailand. There are few records of Lautospora species, but L. gigantea has been reported several times from Indian mangroves on Avicennia officinalis intertidal wood (See Borse et al. 2012 for further details).

Address

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torperadgj@gmail.com

Contact

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