Lautosporaceae Kohlm., Volkm.-Kohlm. & O.E. Erikss., Bot. Mar. 38(2): 169 (1995)
MycoBank number: MB 81975; Index Fungorum number: IF 81975; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01764; 2 species.
Saprobic on submerged mangrove wood and culms of salt marsh plants in marine habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata fusiform to ellipsoidal, ostiolate, brown, coriaceous, solitary. Paraphyses simple, septate, persistent. Asci 4-spored, cylindrical, short pedicellate, thick-walled, unitunicate, with an ocular chamber. Ascospores uni- or biseriate, fusiform, muriform, distoseptate, hyaline, outer wall very thick. Asexual morph: Undetermined (adapted from Jones et al. 2015).
Type genus – Lautospora K.D. Hyde & E.B.G. Jones
Notes – Lautosporaceae comprises two marine Lautospora species, collected on driftwood of Sonneratia griffithii (L. gigantea) and culms of Juncus roemerianus (L. simillima) (Hyde & Jones 1989, Kohlmeyer et al. 1995, respectively). The family was not assigned to any order, but referred to Ascomycota incertae sedis. Jones et al. (2009) included the family in Dothideomycetidae incertae sedis, based on the thick-walled nature of the ascus. A recent collection of L. simillima on mangrove wood in Thailand by Suetrong, enabled the extraction of DNA. Based on LSU sequence data (Suetrong, unpublished data), L. simillima was referred to an unnamed clade in Sordariomycetes and in a basal clade to Diaporthales (Jones et al. 2015). Lautosporaceae was therefore excluded from the class Dothideomycetes (Hyde et al. 2013). Lautospora simillima grouped with the neotropical ascomycete Mirannulata sameulsii with weak support, and shares few morphological features with this genus (Huhndorf et al. 2003, Jones et al. 2015). The Lautospora/Mirannulata clade formed a sister group to Vertexicola caudatus and Rhamphoria delicatula (Annulatascaceae), hence Jones et al. (2015) emended the diagnosis of Lautosporaceae family.
Genera