Montagnula Berl., Icon. fung. (Abellini) 2: 68 (1896).
Index Fungorum number: IF 3265; MycoBank number: MB 3265; Facesoffungi number: FoF 00048; 33 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2020), 12 species with molecular data.
Saprobic on dead wood and leaves in terrestrial habitats. Sexual state: Ascomata small to medium size, immersed to erumpent, gregarious or grouped, globose to subglobose, black. Hamathecium of dense, narrowly cellular, septate pseudoparaphyses. Asci bitunicate, fissitunicate, usually cylindric-clavate to clavate with a long pedicel. Ascospores oblong to narrowly oblong, straight or somewhat curved, reddish-brown to dark yellowish-brown, muriform or phragmosporous. Asexual state: unknown.
Type species – Montagnula infernalis (Niessl) Berl., Icon. fung. (Abellini) 2(2–3): 68 (1896).
≡ Leptosphaeria infernalis Niessl, Inst. Rev. Cient. Litt., Coimbra 31: 13 (1883).
Notes – Montagnula was introduced by Berlese (1896) to accommodate M. infernalis and M. gigantean. Based on the morphology and phylogeny, Ariyawansa (2014d) placed Montagnula in Didymosphaeriaceae. Montagnula species are characterized by globose or sphaerical, immersed ascomata with a clypeus, claviform asci, fusoid or ellipsoid ascospores with transverse septa and one or more longitudinal septa (Barr 1990a, Ariyawansa et al. 2014d). Wanasinghe et al. (2016b) transferred two Munkovalsaria species (M. appendiculata and M. donacina) based on phylogenetic analyses. Montagnula species play a vital role as saprobes growing on dead plants, especially dead wood and bark, sometimes on dead leaves (Ariyawansa et al. 2014d). A well-resolved revision of Montagnula is difficult since it lacks molecular data. Therefore, representative species of these Montagnula species need to be recollected and molecular data obtained for clarifying its phylogenetic affinity.