Genus

Oceanitis

Species

scuticella

Author

Kohlm., Rev. Mycol. 41: 193, 1977

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy:

Sexual morph: Ascoma 1.45 mm in length, 1.05 mm in diameter, spherical, ostiolate, apically rounded with side slopes straight to concave, fleshy, yellowish-beige with upper half dull orange to brown. Basal region distinctly narrower, hypostroma up to 135 μm in length, ca. 480 μm in width, base curved. Apex 150 μm in diameter. Peridium thick, with around 25 layers of which the outermost three to four layers comprised small, depressed cells, followed by nine layers of polygonal cells decreasing in size towards the cavity, remaining layers of longitudinally arranged, depressed cells. Peridium around 185 μm thick in apical region, 115 μm laterally, and 165 μm at the base. Ostiole about 50 μm in diameter, ostiolar canal 335 μm in length. Cavity of ascoma drop-shaped, with thick ascogenous issue at the bottom, central with densely arranged asci. Ascus clavate, eight-spored, thin-walled, unitunicate, 62 × 13 μm. Ascospores 52 × 2.3 μm, fusiform, with a single appendage, coiled prior to maturity as a pad and strung out when mounted in sea water, pad measuring 17 μm × 1 μm, typically whip-like after uncoiling. Septation of the ascospores was not observed. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Key references:

Campbell J, Anderson JL, Shearer CA. (2003) Systematics of Halosarpheia based on morphological and molecular data. Mycologia 95: 530-552.

Dupont J, Magnin S, Rousseau F, Zbinden M, Frebourg G, Samadi S, Richer de Forges B, Jones EBG. (2009). Molecular and ultrastructural characterization of two ascomycetes found on sunken wood off Vanuatu Islands in the deep Pacific Ocean. Mycological Research 113: 1351-1364.

Dupont J, Schwabe E. (2016) First evidence of the deep-sea fungus Oceanitis scuticella Kohlmeyer (Halosphaeriaceae, Ascomycota) from the Northern Hemisphere. Botanica Marina 2016; 59(4): 275–282.

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 (1977) New genera and species of higher fungi from the deep sea (1615–5315 m). Revue Mycology 41: 189–206.

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

Pang KL, Vrijmoed LLP, Kong RYC, Jones EBG. (2003) Lignincola and Nais, polyphyleticgenera of the Halosphaeriales (Ascomycota). Mycological Progress 2: 29-36.

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.

Shearer CA, Crane JL. (1980) Fungi of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries VIII. Ascomycetes with unfurling appendages. Botanica Marina 23: 607-615.

Key to Oceanitis species:

      1. Ascospores with a single appendage                                                              2

  1. Ascospores with bipolar appendages, 38-89 x 3-7 μm                                     O. viscidula
  1. ascospores 1- septate                                                                                  O. scuticella
  1. Ascospores 3 or more septate                                                                       3
  1. Ascospores 3-5 septate, 36-60 x 2.5-5 μm                                                     O. unicaudata

      3. Ascospores 5-11 septate, 34-60 x 4-5 μm                                                       O. cincinnatula

 

 

 

Type & Location:
Other Specimens:
Substratum:
on decayed wood in the deep sea.
Habitat:
Distribution:
Gulf of Angola, Kurile Kamchatka Abyssal Plain area, Vanuatu archipelago.
Pertinent Literature:
Comments:
NOTES: First described by Kohlemeyer (1977) it was subsequently recorded from Vanuatu archipelago, Pacific Ocean (Dupont et al. 2009) and more recently by Dupont & Schwabe (2016). O. scuticella was also found on sunken wood in the deep sea of the South China Sea; the material included two forms of ascomata: stalked specimens collected near Taiping Island (depth 1381– 1397 m) and the other with ascomata aggregated into a stroma from southwest off Dongsha Island (1205–1389 m).

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