Genus

Halenospora

Species

varia

Author

(Anastasiou) E.B.G. Jones, Fungal Diversity 35: 154 (2009)

Class

Leotiomycetes

Order

Helotiales

Family

Leotiaceae

Synonymy: ≡ Zalerion varium Anastasiou, Can. J. Bot. 41: 1136 (1963)

Description

Asexual morph: Hyphae septate, branched, immersed, hyaline. Conidiophores up to 30 μm × 2-3.5 μm, micronematous, simple, cylindrical, septate, sometimes absent, superficial, hyaline to light olive-coloured. Conidia 15-65 × 13.5-56 μm, solitary, irregularly helicoid or coiled in three planes, forming a knot or ball of about 10 to 30 cells, conidial filament lateral, rarely branched or subtending an additional conidium, thick-walled, smooth, brown to dark brown, appearing black in mass, cells 5-13 × 4-10.5 μm, additional complex conidia composed of up to several hundred cells may be formed in the substrate. Sexual morph: Undetermined. (Description based on Pang et al. (2011)).

Key references:

Abdel-Wahab MA, Pang KL, Nagahama T, Abdel-Aziz FA, Jones EBG. (2010) Phylogenetic evaluation of the marine Cirrenalia and Cumulospora species in the Lulworthiales, with the description of three new anamorphic genera. Mycological Progress 9: 537-558.

Alias SA, Jones EBG. (2009) Marine fungi from mangroves of Malaysia. Institute Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. p. 108

Anastasiou CJ. (1963) The genus Zalerion Moore et Meyers. Canadian Journal of Botany 41: 1135-1139.

Bills GF, Platas G, Peelaez F, Masurekar P. (1999) Reclassification of a pneumocandin producing anamorph, Glarea lozoyensis gen. et sp. nov., previously identified as Zalerion arboricola. Mycological Research 103: 179-192.

Campbell J, Volkmann-Kohlmeyer B, Gräfenhan T, Spataofora JW, Kohlmeyer J. (2005) A re-evaluation of Lulworthiales: relationships based on 18S and 28S rDNA. Mycological Research 109: 556-568.

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.

Pang KL, Chow RKK, Chan CW, Vrijmoed LLP. (2010) Diversity and physiology of marine lignicolous fungi in Arctic waters- a preliminary account. Polar Research

Pang KL, Jheng JS, Jones EBG. (2011) Marine mangrove fungi of Taiwan. National Taiwan Ocean University Press, Keelung. pp. 131.

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.

Image: Halenospora varia. (a) Conidia on wood surface. (b) Dark-coloured, coiled conidia.
Scale bar: a=100 μm; b=10 μm. Photo reproduced with the permission of the National Taiwan Ocean University.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

saprobic wood, driftwood, dead mangrove wood, drift coconuts, dead mangrove seedlings, dead mangrove leaves.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Andaman Islands, Bahamas, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Gambia, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Nicobar Islands, Palau Islands, Philippines, Portugal, Samoa, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, USA, West Guatemala.

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: This species was originally accommodated in Zalerion (Anastasiou 1963). However, Bills et al. (1999), using ITS sequences, discovered that Z. varia grouped in the Leotiaceae while the type species, Z. maritima, resided in the Lulworthiales (Campbell et al. 2005). As a result, Jones et al. (2009) removed this species from Zalerion and transferred it to a new genus, Halenospora. A number of fungi with similar morphology have been observed and deserve particular attention (Abdel-Wahab et al. 2010, Pang et al. 2010). Molecular studies place it in the Leotiomycetes, but further strains need to be sequenced to confirm that the species is not confused with other helicoid fungi (Jones et al. 2015, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2015). Halenospora varia is wide-spread in distribution as testified by the number of records listed below, and is found on a wide range of substrata, but primarily on wood (Alias & Jones 2009, Pang et al. 2011).

Images

Fig 1