Genus

Okeanomyces

Species

cucullatus

Author

(Kohlm.) K.L. Pang & E.B.G. Jones, 2004. Bot. J. Linn. Soc.

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy: = Remispora cucullata Kohlmeyer, Mycologia, 56: 770 (1964).; ≡ Halosphaeria cucullata (Kolhm.) Kohlm., Can. J. Bot., 50: 1956 (1972).

Description

Type species:

Okeanomyces cucullatus (Kohlm.) K.L. Pang & E.B.G. Jones, 2004. Bot. J. Linn. Soc., 146: 228. [Fig. 79.1]

= Remispora cucullata Kohlmeyer, Mycologia, 56: 770 (1964).

≡ Halosphaeria cucullata (Kolhm.) Kohlm., Can. J. Bot., 50: 1956 (1972).

Sexual morph: saprobic, Ascomata: 150-245 µm high, 150-250 µm wide, subglobose or ampulliform, immersed, ostiolate, papillate, coriaceous, browinish-black or brownish red, solitary or gregarious. Peridium: 7.5-11.5 µm thick, composed of 4 to 6 layers of thick-walled, mostly ellipsoidal cells, forming a textura angularis, merging toward the canter into the pseudoparenchyma. Necks: 55-100 µm long, 28-75 µm wide, cylindrical or conical; ostiolar canal at first filled with a small-celled parenchyma. Pseudoparenchyma: of thin-walled, polygonal or rounded cells filling venter of young ascomata; eventually breaking up into catenophyses; cells 9-23 µm long, 6-15 µm wide. Asci: 45-70 x 15-30 µm, 8-spored, clavate, short pedunculate, unitunicate, thin-walled, aphysoclastic, without apical apparatuses, deliquescing very early in development, developing in the base of the ascomata venter on a small-celled ascogenous tissue. Ascospores: 20-68.5 x 6-15.5 µm, cylindrical or rarely ellipsoidal, 1-septate, slightly or not constricted at the septa, hyaline, with or without cap-like, subglobose, terminal, deciduous appendage at one end, 5-8.5 µm wide. Asexual morph: Periconia prolifica (Description: Based on Kohlmeyer & Kohlmeyer (1979)).

Key references:

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

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, Pang KL (2017) The Halosphaeriaceae revisited. Botanica Marina DOI 10.1515/bot-2016-0113.

Kohlmeyer J (1964) A new marine ascomycete from wood. Mycologia. 56:770-774.

Kophlmeyer J (1969) Marine fungi from Hawaii including a new genus Helicascus. Can J Bot 47:1469-1487.

Pang KL, Jones, EBG, Vrijmoed LP, Vikineswary S (2004) Okeanomyces, a new genus to accommodate Halosphaeria cucullata (Halosphaeriales, Ascomycota). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 146(2):223-229.

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.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

saprobic on intertidal wood, test blocks, frequently on mangrove wood and pneumatophores, fruits and seeds, brackish water palms.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Australia, Bahamas, Brazil, France, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Philippines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Tobago, Viet Nam, USA.

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: Remispora cucullata was introduced by Kohlmeyer (1964) and subsequently referred to Halosphaeria (Kohlmeyer1972). However, the transfer of many taxa to this genus was questioned and various studies were instigated to resolve the delineation of Halosphaeria (Jones et al. 1981). Pang et al. (2004) introduced the genus Okeanomyces to accommodate as it did not group with type species Halosphaeria appendiculata. This was confirmed in further studies of the Halosphaeriaceae by Sakayaroj et al. (2011), and Jones et al. (2015, 2017). The sexual morph is poorly known while the asexual morph (Periconia prolifica) which is widely collected especially in tropical locations. The asexual morph was first linked to O. cucullatus by Kohlmeyer (1969) based on culture studies and later confirmed by sequence data (Pang et al. 2004, Sakayaroj et al. 2011). Many collections have been reported from India (see Borse et al. 2012).

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