Phaeosphaeriaceae M.E. Barr, Mycologia 71(5): 948 (1979).

MycoBank number: MB 81637; Index Fungorum number: IF 81637; Facesoffungi number: FoF 00232, 794 species.

Pathogenic, saprobic or hyperparasitic mainly on monocotyledons, prominently found on Poaceae and some other herbaceous plants, visible as small black dots on host surface, sometimes produced pink to red pigments tinted host. Sexual morph: Ascomata medium to large sized, solitary, clustered, scattered or gregarious, immersed, semi-immersed to erumpent, or superficial, globose to subglobose, dark brown to black, uni- to bi-loculate, occasionally forming pseudostromata under the clypeus (Neostagonosporella), glabrous or setose ostiolate, papillate with short to long neck. Peridium composed of two types: type I (phaeosphaeria-like) composed of 1–3- statra, thin-walled cells of light brown to brown, flattened to broad pseudoparenchymatous cells, arranged in a textura angularis; type II (pleospora-like) composed of several statra, thick-walled cells of dark brown to black, flattened to broad pseudoparenchymatous cells, arranged in a textura angularis to textura prismatica or textura globulosa, paler towards the inner layers to hyaline cells. Hamathecium composed of sparse to dense, broad, cellular pseudoparaphyses, occasionally trabeculate pseudoparaphyses (Neostagonosporella), anastomosing above the asci, embedded in a hyaline gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to broadly cylindrical or cylindric-clavate, pedicellate, apically rounded with ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping 2- to multi-seriate, fasciculate or in spiral, dictyosporous, phragmosporous, or scolecosporous, occasionally didymosporous (Embarria), varied in shape, frequently ellipsoidal to fusiform, or filiform, hyaline, light brown to brown, or reddish brown to dark brown, septate, presence or absence of mucilaginous sheath and appendage, smooth- to rough-walled, with, echinulate or verruculose. Asexual morph: Frequently found as coelomycetous, phoma-like and stagonospora- like, occasionally found as dictyosporous coelomycetous (Amarenographium, Camarosporioides, Galiicola, Dlhawksworthia), and some hyphomycetous asexual morphs viz. Bhagirathimyces, Bhatiellae, Edenia and Populocrescentia (Crous et al. 2009a, 2017c, 2019b, Quaedvlieg et al. 2013, Phookamsak et al. 2014c, 2019, Li et al. 2015, Hyde et al. 2016, 2020b, Phukhamsakda et al. 2015, Wanasinghe et al. 2018c, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2019).

Type – Phaeosphaeria I. Miyake.

Notes – Barr (1979a) introduced Phaeosphaeriaceae based on the generic type Phaeosphaeria and also included 14 other genera in this family viz. Comoclathris, Didymella, Eudarluca, Heptameria, Leptosphaeria, Loculohypoxylon, Metameris, Microthelia, Nodulosphaeria, Ophiobolus, Paraphaeosphaeria, Rhopographus, Scirrhodothis and Teichospora. Over the next 35  years, genera in Phaeosphaeriaceae have been  revised with inclusions  and exclusion by various authors based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequence analyses (Shoemaker 1984, Shoemaker & Babcock 1989a, Eriksson & Hawksworth 1993, Kirk et al. 2001, Jones et al. 2009b, Suetrong et al. 2009, Zhang et al. 2009c, 2012b, Lumbsch & Huhndorf 2010, Hyde et al. 2011, 2013, Quaedvlieg et al. 2013).

Phookamsak et al. (2014c) re-circumscribed the genera in Phaeosphaeriaceae based on the generic type studies and some other representative specimens coupled with multi-gene phylogenetic analyses. They accepted 28 genera in Phaeosphaeriaceae, and this is in agreement with Wijayawardene et al. (2014b). Based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses, the familial concept of Phaeosphaeriaceae was restricted to the broad sense. Many monotypic genera were introduced based only on phylogenetic analyses such as Acericola, Arezzomyces, Banksiophoma, Bhagirathimyces, Bhatiellae, Brunneomurispora, Camarosporioides, Embarria, Equiseticola, Hydeopsis, Jeremyomyces, Melnikia, Neosphaerellopsis, Neostagonosporella, Ophiobolopsis, Ophiosimulans, Parastagonosporella, Phaeoseptoriella, Piniphoma, Pseudoophiosphaerella, Pseudophaeosphaeria, Vittaliana, Vrystaatia, Xenoseptoria, Yunnanensis (Quaedvlieg et al. 2013, Trakunyingcharoen et al. 2014, Hyde et al. 2016, 2017, 2020b, Tibpromma et al. 2015, Wijayawardene et al. 2016a, Crous et al. 2017b, 2019b, Karunarathna et al. 2017a, Phookamsak et al. 2017, 2019, Wanasinghe et al. 2018c, Bakhshi et al. 2019, Devadatha et al. 2019, Marin-Felix et al. 2019, Yang et al. 2019, Zhang et al. 2019a). More taxon sampling of these genera is required for a better understanding of their phylogenetic affinities and to clarify their classification.

Crous et al. (2015a) treated Wojnowicia as a synonym of Septoriella and this is in agreement with Wijayawardene et al. (2017a, 2020). Wijayawardene et al. (2018) listed 52 genera under Phaeosphaeriaceae. However, Marin-Felix et al. (2019) treated Allophaeosphaeria, Poaceicola, and Vagicola as synonyms of Septoriella. This leads Septoriella to be varied in morphology. Marin-Felix et al. (2019) also introduced the monotypic genera: Arezzomyces and Wingfieldomyces in this family. Crous et al. (2019b) also introduced three monotypic genera in Phaeosphaeriaceae viz. Jeremyomyces, Phaeoseptoriella and Piniphoma. Phaeosphaeriaceae has become somewhat confused following various treatments and a detailed study with more taxa and molecular data is required to resolve the taxonomic problematic of this family. Therefore, Hyde et al. (2020b) refrained from synonymizing species and genera to avoid taxonomic confusion. Hyde et al. (2020b) introduced other two new genera, Bhagirathimyces and Paraloratospora to accommodate the hyphomycetous asexual morph species and phaeosphaeria-like species in this family.

Thus, currently 83 genera are accommodated in this family. The asexual morph of Phaeosphaeriaceae was commonly known as coelomycetous (Quaedvlieg et al. 2013, Phookamsak et al. 2014c). However, four hyphomycetous genera have been reported in Phaeosphaeriaceae in recent year (Wanasinghe et al. 2018c, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2019, Hyde et al. 2020b).

Genera