Genus

Morosphaeria

Species

velatospora

Author

(K.D. Hyde & Borse) Suetrong, Sakayaroj, E.B.G. Jones, & Schoch, Stud. Mycol. 64: 155 (2009).

Class

Ascomycota, Pezizomycotina, Dothideomycetes

Order

Pleosporales

Family

Moropshaeriaceae

Synonymy:

Description

Sexual morph: Ascomata 530 μm high, 160 μm diam., solitary or gregarious, subglobose or depressed, immersed, becoming erumpent, ostiolate, papillate, coriaceous, brown to black. Necks 45-90 μm long, 45-60 μm diam., conical, black. Peridium one-layered, composed of cells of textura angularis. Asci 210-280 × 20-28 μm, eight-spored, cylindrical, pedunculate, with an apical apparatus, thick-walled, bitunicate. Ascospores 34-52 × 12-20 μm, uniseriate, fusiform to ellipsoidal, 1-3 septate, hyaline, constricted at the septa, central cells larger, apical cells when present small, surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: undetermined.

Key references:

Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Ariyawansha H, Liu JK, Binder M, Jayawardene N, Boehm E, Boonmee S et al. (2013) Families of Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity 63: 1-313.

Jones EBG, Sakayaroj J, Suetrong S, Somrithipol S, Pang KL. (2009) Classification of marine Ascomycota, anamorphic taxa and Basidiomycota. Fungal Diversity 35: 1-187.

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.

Suetrong S, Schoch CL, Spatafora JW, Kohlmeyer J, Volkmann-Kohlmeyer B, Sakayaroj J, Phongpaichit S, Tanaka K, Hirayama K, Jones EBG. (2009) Molecular systematics of the marine Dothideomycetes. Studies in Mycology 64: 155-173.

Key to species:

Ascospores 35-42.5 x 12.5-18 µm, with polar cap extends into the enveloping sheath

Ascospores 34-52 × 12-20 μm, no polar cap extending into the sheath

Image: Morosphaeria velatospora. (a)Section of immersed ascoma with darkened wood surface. (b) Section of ascoma neck. (c) One-layered peridium of cells of textura angularis. (d) Cylindrical bitunicate asci and 3-septate ascospores. Scale bar: a=100 μm, b, c, d=30 μm. Photo reproduced with the permission of the National Taiwan Ocean University.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

Dead mangrove wood.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Andaman Islands, Australia, Belize, Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Martinique, Mauritius, Nicobar Islands, Philippines, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Taiwan, Thailand, USA.

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: Ten marine Massarina species have been described occurring primarily on mangrove wood, while M. cystophorae is known from a brown alga, and M. phragmiticola from a salt marsh grass (Jones et al. 2009), but they are not monophyletic. Consequently, Suetrong et al. (2009) have transferred Massarina velatospora and M. ramunculicola to the new genus Morosphaeria and Massarina thalassiae to the new genus Halomassarina in the Trematosphaeriaceae, based on sequence data. Morosphaeria velatospora is a widely-distributed species and known from the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, occurring on wood of a wide range of mangrove trees, prop roots, and seedlings. It is an exclusive tropical marine species. The family Morosphariaceae now includes the genus Asteromassarina (Hyde et al. 2013).

Images

Fig 2