Genus

Nautosphaeria

Species

cristaminuta

Author

E.B.G. Jones, Transactions of the British Mycological Society 47 (1): 97 (1964)

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy:

Description

Nautosphaeria E.B.G. Jones, Transactions of the British Mycological Society 47 (1): 97 (1964)

Type and marine species:

Nautosphaeria cristaminuta E.B.G. Jones, Transactions of the British Mycological Society 47 (1): 97 (1964)

Index Fungorum Number: 335090 Faceoffungi Number: N/A

Saprobic on wood, Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial (144-)180-288 x 108-198 µm diam., as for the genus, globose, sometimes subglobose, rarely elongate, hyaline or cream coloured, never brown, membranous, thin-walled, aparaphysate, necks hyaline, 108-396 x 20-30 µm. Asci as for the genus. Ascospores 14-18 x 7-8.5 µm (predominantly 14-15.3 x 7-7.5 µm), hyaline but becoming grey or fuscous at maturity, ellipsoidal, one-celled, 1-2 large guttules, with tufts of hair-like appendages at both ends, and 4 lateral tufts each at right angles to one another. Apical and lateral appendages measure 4·5-11·5 µm. Asexual morph: Undermined.

Description based on Jones 1964.

Key references:

Johnson RG, Jones EBG, Moss ST (1984). Taxonomic studies of the Halosphaeriaceae: Remispora Linder, Marinospora Cavaliere and Carbosphaerella Schmidt. Bot Mar 27: 557 566.

Jones EBG (1964). Nautosphaeria cristaminuta gen. et sp. nov., a marine pyrenomycete on submerged wood. Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 47(1): 97– 101.

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.

Jones EBG, Ju WT, Lu CL, Guo SY, Ka– Lai Pang KL (2017). The Halosphaeriaceae revisited. Botanica Marina DOI 10.1515/bot– 2016– 0113.

Koch J, Jones EBG (1983). Vedboende havsvampe fra danske Kyster. Svampe 8: 49– 65.

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

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

On intertidal and drift wood, also test blocks submerged in the sea.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain,Taiwan.

Pertinent Literature:

Description based on Jones 1964.

Comments:

NOTES: This is a monotypic genus and N. cristaminuta is frequently collected in temperate waters on trapped or drift wood, especially on gymnospermous wood. Sequence data places it in the Halosphaeriaceae as a sister group to Tubakiella galerita with good statistical support (Sakayaroj et al. 2011, Jones et al. 2017). The two genera share few morphological features in common, with the polar and equatorial appendages in N. cristaminuta hair– like in tufts (Koch and Jones 1983), while in T. galerita there are only polar gelatinous appendages that are composed of fibrillar material and formed by fragmentation of an exosporic layer of the ascospore (Johnson et al. 1984). It is a marine species accepted by Jones et al. (2015).

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