Metacapnodiaceae S. Hughes & Corlett, in Hughes, N.Z. Jl Bot. 10: 239 (1972).
MycoBank number: MB 81649; Index Fungorum number: IF 81649; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06842, 28 species.
Foliar epiphytes on leaves and stems. Mycelium superficial, subiculum spongy, friable, thick- walled, moniliform, anastomosing, branched, sometimes lobed or in the form of hemisphaerical lumps, hyphae, brown to dark brown, septate, with deeply constricted at the septa, smooth or coarsely roughened. Sexual morph: Ascomata basally immersed in the subiculum, globose or broadly ellipsoidal, with numerous hypha-like, septate, appendages. Peridium comprises brown to dark brown of cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising pseudoparaphyses, with numerous asci. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, ellipsoidal with pedicel, lacking ocular chamber. Ascospores 2–3-seriate, ellipsoidal, or with conical end cells, brown to dark brown, 3-septate, occasionally slightly constricted at the septa, thick-walled, dark at the septa. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Capnocybe: slimy heads phragmoconidia. Capnophialophora phialides state: plump, ampulliform phialides on the moniliform conidiophores, small ameroconidia. Capnosporium: solitary, dry phragmoconidia, produce phialides and microconidia. Hormiokrypsis: solitary, dry stauroconidia (Batista & Nascimento 1957, Hughes 1966, Hughes & Seifert 2012, Hyde et al. 2013, photoplates of asexual can be seen in Hughes 1981).
Type – Metacapnodium Speg.
Notes – Metacapnodiaceae is a sooty mould family which produces a hyphomycetous conidial state (Hughes 1972). This family has distinctive hyphae recognized by superficial, glossy, moniliform, widely branched, dark brown walls, strong constrictions at the septa, except for the cells of synnematous asexual morphs, which are progressively narrower and longer, usually tapered towards the apex at the ends (Hughes et al. 2012, Hyde et al. 2013). Some species in this family were discovered in fossil ambers, and were used as a representative from Dothideomycetes in divergence time estimates (Beimforde et al. 2014, Hongsanan et al. 2016a, Liu et al. 2017a). Capnocybe, Capnophialophora, Capnosporium, Hormiokrypsis and Hyphosoma were reported as asexual morph genera in Metacapnodiaceae (Hughes 1966, 1981b, Seifert et al. 2011, Wijayawardene et al. 2012). Hyde et al. (2013) reviewed this family and synonymized Capnocybe under Metacapnodium, thus the family contained six genera, Capnobotrys, Capnophialophora, Capnosporium, Hormiokrypsis, Hyphosoma and Metacapnodium. Capnophialophora, Capnosporium and Hormiokrypsis were synonymized under Metacapnodium (Rossman et al. 2016). We accept only three genera in Metacapnodiaceae (Capnobotrys, Hyphosoma and Metacapnodium). No cultures or sequence data are available for this family.
Genera