Microascaceae Luttr. ex Malloch, Mycologia 62(4): 734 (1970)

MycoBank number: MB 81001; Index Fungorum number: IF 81001; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01798; 263 species.

Saprobic and pathogenic on various plants. Sexual morph: Ascomata black, globose cleistothecial or perithecial, superficial to immersed, ostiolate, ampulliform, aggregated to scattered, glabrous or covered with scattered hairs. Ostiole often comprises a neck with variable length and shape, with ostiolar hairs. Peridium thick-walled, dark brown to black, composed of cells of textura angularis or textura intricata. Hamathecium without interascal tissues. Asci 8- spored, globose to barrel-shaped, evanescent, thin-walled, obovate, unitunicate, sessile to short pedicellate, arranged in basipetal rows. Ascospores crowded, aseptate, seriate, pale to dark reddish- brown, asymmetrical, reniform, triangular or quadrangular, dextrinoid when immature, germ pores present, or with germ slits, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Conidiophores smooth-walled, elongate, macronematous, mononematous or sporodochial to synnematous, with or without rhizoids. Conidiogenous cells short simple or little branched, cylindrical annellides, borne singly or in groups of 2–5 on the vegetative hyphae, ampulliform or lageniform, subhyaline to dark when mature, smooth- to rough-walled. Conidia aseptate, pale yellow to dark brown, obovate or clavate, base truncate and rounded to pointed at the apex, globose to subglobose, smooth thin-walled to finely roughened thick-walled, produced singly or in basipetal dry chains. Presence of solitary conidia in some species, sessile or on short stalks from the vegetative hyphae (adapted from Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016a, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2016b).

Type genus – Microascus Zukal.

Notes – Microascaceae was circumscribed by Luttrell (1951) in Microascales and validated by Malloch (1970) (Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016a, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2016b). It comprises several closely related genera of saprobic, plant and opportunistic human pathogenic fungi (de Hoog et al. 2011, Sandoval-Denis et al. 2013, 2016b, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2016b). Sandoval-Denis et al. (2016a, b) revised and proposed several new taxa and combinations under Microascaceae. Unlike the studies by Issakainen et al. (2003), Sandoval-Denis et al. (2016a) used combined gene (LSU, ITS, tef1 and tub2) phylogenetic analysis and confirmed the polyphyletic nature of the two groups, Microascus and Scopulariopsis. As a result, they reported several uncertain genera which were later resolved in Sandoval-Denis et al. (2016b). For example, Acaulium and Fairmania were circumscribed as a new lineage in Microascaceae (Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016a). In our current revision of Microascaceae, we accommodate 23 genera. Yunnania, Fairmania, Acaulium, Gamsia, and Rhinocladium are the latest additions in the family (Sandoval- Denis et al. 2016a, b, Wijayawardene et al. 2017a, 2018a).

Genera