Corynesporascaceae Sivan., Mycological Research 100: 786 (1996).

= Corynesporaceae Locq., Mycol. gén. struct. (Paris): 207 (1984) Nom. inval., Art. 39.1 (Melbourne).

MycoBank number: MB 81981; Index Fungorum number: IF 81981; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06661, 175 species.

Pathogenic and saprobic on leaves. Sexual morph: Ascomata lacking ostioles (cleistothecioid), sphaerical, solitary or aggregated, superficial or immersed in the agar. Peridium thin-walled, composed of brown cells of textura globosa or angularis. Hamathecium comprising paraphysoids. Asci obovoid, initially relatively thick-walled, bitunicate, deliquescent, 8-spored, arising from a hymenium and fasciculate among deliquescent paraphysoids. Ascospores 2–3- seriate, pale to dark brown, smooth-walled, 1-euseptate close to the center and indistinctly more or less 1-distoseptate in the upper and lower cell, constricted at the mid-euseptum, often asymmetric, with an indistinct transverse, hyaline area at or near the middle of the somewhat longer basal cell, with three lenticular to globose, granular lumena (adapted from Sivanesan 1996). Asexual morph: Conidiophores macronematous, mononematous, solitary or in groups, straight to flexuous, subhyaline to pale brown, smooth, cylindrical, thick-walled. Conidiogenous cells monotretric, integrated, terminal, percurrently proliferating, cylindrical, pale brown to median brown. Conidia solitary or catenate, obclavate, sometimes with a rostrate apex, subhyaline to brown, straight to curved, septate or distoseptate.

Type – Corynesporasca Sivan.

Notes – Corynesporascaceae was established by Sivanesan (1996) based on Corynesporasca Sivan. It was initially referred to Melanommatales sensu Barr based on the morphology (Sivanesan 1996). Corynesporascaceae was accepted as a member of Pleosporales in a revision of Dothideomycetes (Hyde et al. 2013), and this treatment was followed by Wijayawardene et al. (2014b) in the outline of Dothideomycetes. In a comprehensive phylogenetic study of Dothideomycetes performed by Liu et al. (2017a), Corynesporascaceae formed a basal clade to Massarineae and Pleosporineae in Pleosporales. Species of Corynesporascaceae can cause foliar diseases in plants, predominating in the tropics and subtropics (Stone & Jones 1960, Dixon et al. 2009, Hyde et al. 2013).

Genera