Microascus – Facesoffungi number: FoF 02120

Microascus Zukal, Verh. Zool-Bot. Ges. Wien 35:339 (1886)

MycoBank number: MB 3153; Index Fungorum number: IF 3153; Facesoffungi number: FoF 02120; 54 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2020), 39 species with sequence data.

Type species – Microascus longirostris Zukal

Notes – Phylogenetic study by Issakainen et al. (2003) indicated that subdivision of the genus was necessary. Sandoval-Denis et al. (2016b) confirmed that there were several distinct lineages which were supported by morphology, such as germ slits, synnemata or conspicuously hairy ascomata (Abbott 2000, Issakainen et al. 2003, Jagielski et al. 2016, Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016b). Sandoval-Denis et al. (2016a, b) resolved the taxonomic complexity of the genus and introduced seven new species, with new combinations in the Microascus lineage (Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016a). However, several taxa (e.g. M. longirostris and M. pseudolongirostris) have uncertain position in a phylogenetic tree , suggesting further study is needed to resolve the taxonomic placements of problematic taxa (Woudenberg et al. 2017). Microascus longirostris has a wide host range, mostly from dung of mammals, soil, wood, seeds, air, and clinical samples (Barron et al. 1961, Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016a, b, Woudenberg et al. 2017). Neither a type culture nor herbarium specimen is available (Barron et al. 1961, Sandoval-Denis et al. 2016a, Wijayawardene et al. 2017a). A neotype of M. longirostris was designated by Sandoval-Denis et al. (2016a), which was corresponds to the descriptions by Zukal (1885) and cultural characteristics descriptions correspond to Barron et al. (1961), Morton & Smith (1963) and von Arx et al. (1988).

Species