Teichosporaceae M.E. Barr, Mycotaxon 82: 374 (2002).
MycoBank number: MB 82136; Index Fungorum number: IF 82136; Facesoffungi number: FoF 00830, 88 species.
Saprobic on woody branches, bark or leaves. Sexual morph: Ascomata semi-immersed, erumpent to superficial, solitary or aggregated, coriaceous to carbonaceous, dark brown to black, pyriform or globose to subglobose, dark brown to black, ostiolate. Ostiole central, papillate to elongate, pore rounded, apex variously coloured. Peridium thin-walled with equal thickness, slightly thin at the base, composed of several layers of lightly pigmented to dark brown to black, textura angularis cells, cells towards the inside lighter, at the outside, darker and fusing with the host tissues. Hamathecium comprising 1–2 μm wide, numerous, septate, branching, anastomosing, cellular or trabeculate pseudoparaphyses, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 4–8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to subclavate, pedicellate, with a small ocular chamber. Ascospores 1–2-seriate, overlapping, fusoid or clavate, oblong, rounded ends, symmetric or asymmetric, initially hyaline or brown, 1–3-septate or muriform, usually septate, rarely with a gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph: Coelomycetous, forming pycnidia that contain brown septate or brown, rarely hyaline, aseptate conidia.
Type – Teichospora Fuckel.
Notes – Teichosporaceae was established by Barr (2002) to accommodate eight genera, Bertiella, Byssothecium, Chaetomastia, Immotthia, Loculohypoxylon, Moristroma, Sinodidymella and the type genus Teichospora by using morphological characteristics. Most of these Teichosporaceae genera have been previously included in Decampiaceae (Barr 1987b) based on their peridium structure, ascus morphology and tropic states. Later, Moristroma, Byssothecium and Bertiella were transferred to Chaetothyriomycetidae, Massarinaceae and Melanommataceae, respectively (Lumbsch & Huhndorf 2010). Jaklitsch et al. (2016b) revised Teichosporaceae and illustrated the morphological similarities of Teichospora species and all genera which previously included in Floricolaceae were transferred and synonymized under Teichospora. Consequently, all the genera which were accepted in Thambugala et al. (2015b) in Floricolceae, became synonyms of Teichospora and thus the family became monotypic. However, the monotypic nature of Teichosporaceae is doubtful, due to some distinct morphological differences within species. According to the recent outline of Wijayawardene et al. (2018), twelve genera are accepted in Teichosporaceae. After in-depth morphological and phylogeny analyses, we keep Floricolaceae (Thambugala et al. 2015b) genera in Teichosporaceae. We excluded Neocurreya from Teichosporaceae, but this needs more verification with molecular data.