Antennulariellaceae Woron., Annls mycol. 23(1/2): 178 (1925).
MycoBank number: MB 80461; Index Fungorum number: IF 80461; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06951, 12 species.
Foliar epiphytes forming on the surface of leaves and twigs, sooty moulds on insect exudates. Subiculum dark brown to black, effuse, densely velutinous, somewhat dense or velvety. Hyphae cylindrical to moniliform, or regular, septate, deeply pigmented at the length margin, smooth or rough-walled. Erect hyphae dense or scant covering, broad and irregularly anastomosing in a network, brown to black. Sexual morph: Ascomata developing from repeated divisions of hyphae, subglobose, obovoid to broadly ellipsoidal, or ovoid, sessile, or with a robust stalk, brown to dark brown, with or without appendages, a central ostiole at maturity, arising from terminal or intercalary cells on aerial hyphae. Peridium thin-walled, pseudoparenchymatous. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, pyriform to ellipsoidal, or clavate. Ascospores 3–4-seriate, minute, ovoid, more or less oblong, hyaline, 1–3-septate, slightly constricted at the septum, upper cell slightly shorter and broader than the lower cell, rounded at both ends. Asexual morph: Coelomycetous or hyphomycetous. Coelomycetous (Antennariella): Pycnidia small, subglobose to obovoid, dark brown, on a short stalk or intercalary, somewhat lateral on conidiophores, with a short neck and ostioles at maturity. Pycnidial wall pseudoparenchymatous, smooth- or rough-walled. Conidiogenous cells minute, rare seen (Hughes 2000). Conidia minute, globose, more or less ellipsoidal, hyaline, aseptate (Hughes 1976). Hyphomycetous (Capnodendron): Hyphae cylindrical or irregular, septate, dark brown, smooth- or rough-walled. Conidiophores scattered or gregarious, velutinous, straight or irregularly bent, more or less cylindrical, barely different from aerial hyphae, arising as upright branches or upturned ends of hyphae, with variable in length, brown to dark brown, smooth- to rough-walled. Conidiogenous cell holoblastic, more or less ovoid, with a flat terminal, with a scar left by the fallen conidium, sessile. Conidia narrowly clavate to ellipsoidal or fusiform, straight or curved or irregularly curved, pale brown to dark brown, slightly constricted at the septa, rounded at the apex or scarred at both ends, smooth- or rough-walled, sometimes with longitudinal striations, gently or abruptly tapered at the base to a flattened or denticulate scar (Hughes 2000, Hyde et al. 2013, drawing of asexual characters can be seen in Hughes 1976).
Type – Antennulariella Woron.
Notes – Antennulariellaceae is a poorly known sooty mould family in Capnodiales. It was established by Woronichin (1925), with the generic type Antennulariella. Six genera were included in this family by Kirk et al. (2008). However, many studies included only three genera in this family, viz. Antennulariella, Achaetobotrys and Capnofrasera (Hyde et al. 2013, Chomnunti et al. 2014, Wijayawardene et al. 2017a). Wijayawardene et al. (2017b) excluded Capnofrasera from Antennulariellaceae based on its asexual morph characters without sequence data. Little sequence data are available in GenBank for Antennulariaceae (Cheewangkoon et al. 2009, Chomnunti et al. 2014). Phylogenetic placement of Antennulariaceae in Capnodiaceae, represented by the strain of Antennariella placitae, is doubtful (Cheewangkoon et al. 2009, Chomnunti et al. 2014). Due to the morphological differences, Antennulariellaceae was not considered to be a synonym of Capnodiaceae. Molecular data is therefore required to resolve its phylogenetic placement, and explain relationships between the sexual and asexual morphs of its various possible asexual genera.
Genera