Thyridariaceae Q. Tian & K.D. Hyde, in Hyde et al., Fungal Divers. 63: 254 (2013).
MycoBank number: MB 805172; Index Fungorum number: IF 805172; Facesoffungi number: FoF 08374, 43 species.
Saprobic under periderm or immersed in woody plant substrates. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial, immersed or semi-immersed, gregarious, circular, globose, coriaceous, black, smooth- walled, with or without a subiculum. Peridium 2-layered, outer layer composed of irregular, thick- walled, brown to black cells of textura angularis, and inner layer composed of slightly, larger cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising long, branched or simple, septate, cellular, encircling the asci and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, thick-walled, cylindrical to subclavate, with a pedicel, apically rounded with an ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping 1–2-seriate, ellipsoid to fusiform, oblong, hyaline to pale brown or dark brown to blackish-brown, 2–3-septate, or multi-septate or muriform, constricted at the medium septum, septa darkened, straight or curved, ends rounded, smooth-walled, with or without a mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Cyclothyrium.
Type – Thyridaria Sacc.
Notes – Hyde et al. (2013) introduced Thyridariaceae to accommodate Thyridaria based on its unique morphology and clustering in a unique family in the Dothideomycetes. The placement of Thyridaria has been unclear with the genus referred to Didymosphaeriaceae, Lophiostomataceae, Melanommataceae, Platystomaceae, Pleosporaceae, and Sphaeriaceae (Wehmeyer 1941, 1975, Munk 1957, Luttrell 1973, Müller & von Arx 1973, Dennis 1978, Barr 1979a, b, 2003, Mugambi & Huhndorf 2009a, b). Schoch et al. (2009a) confirmed the placement of Thyridaria in the Pleosporales with strong support. Jaklitsch & Voglmayr (2016) introduced a new genus, Parathyridaria and provided an update multi-gene analyses that indicated Roussoellaceae should be a synonym of Thyridariaceae and accepted five genera in Thyridariaceae, Neoroussoella, Thyridaria, Roussoella, Roussoellopsis and Parathyridaria. However, Roussoellaceae is a well- resolved family in Pleosporales which is in agreement with the results of several studies (Liu et al. 2014, Ariyawansa et al. 2015a, Dai et al. 2017, Tibpromma et al. 2017, Hyde et al. 2018, Wanasinghe et al. 2018c, Wijayawardene et al. 2018, Jayasiri et al. 2019, Jiang et al. 2019, Phookamsak et al. 2019). Wanasinghe et al. (2018c) introduced three new genera, Cycasicola, Neoconiothyrium and Pararoussoella in Thyridariaceae. However, Neoconiothyrium and Pararoussoella have been transferred to Roussoellaceae based on good support in a phylogenetic study (Jayasiri et al. 2019, Phookamsak et al. 2019). Devadatha et al. (2018b) introduced a new marine genus Thyridariella with two species based on morphological differences and phylogenetic support. Phookamsak et al. (2019) established Liua. Mapook et al. (2020) subsequently introduced Chromolaenomyces and Pseudothyridariella in Thyridariaceae. Thus, there are seven genera accepted in Thyridariaceae, viz. Chromolaenomyces, Cycasicola, Liua, Parathyridaria, Pseudothyridariella, Thyridaria and Thyridariella with morphological data and phylogenetic analyses.