Coniochaetaceae Malloch & Cain, Can. J. Bot. 49: 878 (1971)
Index Fungorum number: IF 80629; MycoBank number: MB 80629; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01332; 99 species.
Saprobic on dung, plant litter or in soil, water, or pathogens of plants and immunocompromised humans, endophytic in leaves and lichen thalli. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial or cleistothecial, solitary to gregarious, superficial, semi-immersed or immersed, subglobose to globose or pyriform, dark brown to black, glabrous or hairy, ostiolate or lacking ostiole. Ostiole periphysate, sometimes surrounded by a crown of setae. Peridium membranaceous to pseudoparenchymatous, rarely coriaceous; composed of several layers of cells of textura angularis or textura intricata, or less frequently cephalothecoid. Paraphyses numerous, filiform, simple, septate, evanescent. Asci (4-), 8- to multi-spored, unitunicate, cylindrical to fusoid or clavate, globose to subglobose, short pedicellate, with a truncate to rounded apex, with a J-, apical ring, evanescent. Ascospores 1-seriate or irregularly arranged, initially hyaline, becoming brown to dark brown or olive-greenish to dark olivaceous or black at maturity, ellipsoid to fusiform, broadly ellipsoidal to globose, lenticular or cruciform, with rounded to apiculate ends, flattened on one or both sides; 1-celled, with or without a germ slit, smooth-walled or pitted. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous or yeast-like. Colonies frequently characterized by pink or orange and a yeast-like appearance. Conidiophores macronematous or semi-macronematous. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, polyblastic, of various size and morphology, somewhat ampulliform, subulate or indistinguishable from a normal hyphal cell, collarettes present, but usually indistinct, occasionally somewhat flared. Conidia accumulating near the point of formation (in chains), hyaline, orange or pink in mass, elliptical to oblong-elliptical to reniform, 1-celled, smooth-walled.
Type genus – Coniochaeta (Sacc.) Cooke
Notes – Coniochaetaceae was introduced by Malloch & Cain (1971), and its phylogenetic relationships were clarified by García et al. (2006). The family was accepted in the newly introduced order Coniochaetales (Huhndorf et al. 2004b). Hongsanan et al. (2017) provided evidence through phylogenetic and MCMC trees to support the ordinal status. Additional notes for Coniochaetaceae and two new species were provided by Friebes et al. (2016). For a key and type herbarium study, see Maharachchikumbura et al. (2016b).
Genera