Mycosphaerellales (Nannf.) P.F. Cannon, in Kirk, Cannon, David & Stalpers, Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi, Edn 9 (Wallingford): x (2001)

Index Fungorum number: IF 90557, MycoBank number: MB 90557, Facesoffungi number: FoF 14162

Description – Saprobic, ectophytic, lichenicolous and phytopathogenic. Sexual morph: Ascomata immersed to semi-immersed within the pseudclypeus or superficial, solitary, globose to subglobose with protruding central ostiole, dark brown to black, scattered or clustered, gregarious. Peridium thin- to thick-walled, of several layers of textura angularis, brown to black. Hamathecium present or absent, with cellular pseudoparaphyses, anastomosing, branching, sometimes aparaphysate. Asci bitunicate, fissitunicate, 8-spored, cylindrical to cylindrical-clavate, ovoid to saccate, sessile or stipitate, apically rounded with distinct or indistinct ocular chamber. Ascospores bi-to multi-seriate, ellipsoidal to obclavate, oblong to cylindrical, hyaline to subhyaline or pale yellowish, mostly 1-septate, constricted or not, smooth or rough-walled. Asexual morph: hyphomycetous or coelomycetous (see Videira et al. 2017 for more details about asexual morphs).

Type genus – Ramularia Unger (sexual morph Mycosphaerella Johanson).

Note – Hawksworth et al. (1995) introduced Mycosphaerellaceae in the Dothideales, while Kirk et al. (2001) elevated this family to the order Mycosphaerellales, and Schoch et al. (2006) and Kirk et al. (2008) again placed it as a family in the Capnodiales. Despite high support values obtained in subsequent phylogenetic studies (Crous et al. 2009, Schoch et al. 2009, Suetrong et al. 2009, Hyde et al. 2013), the Mycosphaerellales was never resurrected, and the Capnodiales was applied in a broad sense beyond the original concept presented by Woronichin (1926) to accommodate the sooty moulds. In the multi-gene phylogeny (LSU, TEF-1α and RPB2) using both RAxML and Bayesian analyses, Abdollahzadeh et al. (2020) found Mycosphaerellales to represent a fully supported clade (ML-BS = 100 %, PP = 1) accommodating eight families, namely Cystocoleaceae, Dissoconiaceae, Extremaceae, Mycosphaerellaceae, Neodevriesiaceae, Phaeothecoidiellaceae, Schizothyriaceae and Teratosphaeriaceae. Mycosphaerellales includes species that are saprobes, ectophytes, plant pathogens and lichenised fungi, this order is mainly characterised by plant pathogenic fungi that are commonly isolated as endophytes, being ecologically distinct from the sooty moulds, which are epiphytes.

Families

Mycosphaerellales genera incertae sedis