Camarosporidiellaceae Wanas., Wijayaw., Crous & K.D. Hyde, Stud. Mycol. 87: 216 (2017).

Index Fungorum number: IF 821939; MycoBank number: MB 821939Facesoffungi number: FoF 03528, 23 species.

Saprobic or endophytic or pathogenic on leaves and wood in terrestrial habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata gregarious to solitary, immersed to erumpent, globose to subglobose, black, unilocular, ostiolate. Ostiole black, papillate. Peridium with several cell layers of textura angularis, with outer layer brown to reddish-brown, inner layer hyaline to sub hyaline. Hamathecium cellular pseudoparaphyses. Asci pedicellate, cylindrical, bitunicate, (2–)4–8-spored. Ascospores 1-seriate, ellipsoidal, mostly with obtuse ends, medium brown, muriform, 3–8 transverse septa, with 1–2 longitudinal septa, constricted at septa. Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiomata pycnidial, immersed to sub-peridermal, globose, dark brown to black, unilocular. Conidiomata wall thick- walled, dark brown, composed of cells of textura angularis, inner layer with hyaline cells. Ostiole single, circular, central, papillate. Conidiogenous cells enteroblastic, annellidic, integrated to discrete, doliiform, lageniform or cylindrical, smooth, hyaline, formed from the inner cells of the pycnidial wall. Conidia variable in shape, mostly ellipsoidal, curved to straight, truncate at the base, obtuse at the apex, medium brown to dark brown, phragmosporous to muriform, continuous or constricted at the septa.

TypeCamarosporidiella Wanas., Wijayaw., K.D. Hyde.

Notes – Wanasinghe et al. (2017a) introduced Camarosporidiellaceae to accommodate Camarosporidiella which forms a highly-supported monophyletic lineage within the Pleosporineae and phylogenetically distinct from other families in this suborder. Mostly these fungi are saprobic and sometimes can be endophytic or pathogenic or potential opportunistic pathogens on leaves and woody materials. The species in this family are characterized by their gregarious to solitary, globose to subglobose ascomata that having a papillate, central ostiole, peridium containing cell layers of textura angularis, cylindrical, (2–)4–8-spored asci with 1-seriate, ellipsoidal, brown, muriform ascospores is their sexual stage. Their coelomycetous asexual morph is characterized by comprising pycnidial conidiomata, with papillate single ostiole, enteroblastic, annellidic, integrated to discrete, doliiform, lageniform or cylindrical, hyaline conidiogenous cells, pale to dark brown conidia that are phragmosporous to muriform and mostly ellipsoidal. Determinations of Camarosporidiellaceae spp. based solely on morphological data is insufficient for designating new species because of their lack of phenotypic variability. The current understand of ecological and pathogenic aspects of this group is too superficial and extensive sampling should be carried out in different regions and hosts. Pathogenetic virulence of this family should be further investigated with more taxon sampling and DNA based sequence analyses.