Melanconis Tul. & C. Tul., Select. fung. carpol. (Paris) 2: 115 (1863)

MycoBank number: MB 3060; Index Fungorum number: IF 3060; Facesoffungi number: FoF 02119; 36 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2020), 8 species with sequence data.

Type speciesMelanconis stilbostoma (Fr.) Tul. & C. Tul.

Notes – The genus comprises saprobic, pathogenic (Senanayake et al. 2018) and endophytic (Barengo et al. 2000) species associated with the hardwood of plants in Betulaceae (Fan et al. 2016). The genus is characterised by ascomata with 8-spored asci, ellipsoid, 1-septate ascospores, and acervular conidiomata with hyaline to brown, ellipsoid or subglobose conidia. Most of the species are known in North America and Europe (Senanayake et al. 2017a). In this entry we illustrate Melanconis betulae.

Figure 159 Melanconis betulae (Material examined – CHINA, Gansu Province: Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Zhouqu County, Qiban Forestry Centre, 33°56′35.36″N, 104°07′13.03″E, 3221 m asl, on twigs and branches of Betula albosinensis Burkill, 20 August 2014, Y.M. Liang, BJFC-S1319, holotype). a-c Appearance on host. d Sections through conidiomata. f Conidiophores and alpha conidia. g, h Alpha conidia. i, j Beta conidia. Scale bars: b-e = 500 μm, f-h =10 μm.