Tilachlidiaceae L. Lombard & Crous, Stud. Mycol. 80: 237 (2015)
MycoBank number: MB 810273; Index Fungorum number: IF 810273; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01280; 20 species.
Saprobic or parasitic on other fungi, entomogenous on lepidopterous insects, associated with bryophytes, or isolated from soil. Sexual morph: Ascomata arising directly from the mycelium or formed on loosely arranged stromata, perithecial, KOH-. Ostiole apapillate. Asci 6– 8-spored, clavate or cylindrical, short pedicellate. Ascospores hyaline to yellow, irregularly ovoid or ellipsoidal, muriform, 2–13 celled, with 1–5 transverse septa. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Conidiophores synnematous or acremonium-like. Synnemata when present simple to branched, Conidiophores synnematous or acremonium-like. Synnemata when present simple to branched, cylindrical, narrowing towards the apex, consisting of bundles of parallel, longitudinal, closely compacted hyphae, with 1–4 phialides. Phialides scattered, cymbiform to cylindrical or allantoid, aseptate or septate, sometimes with obvious collarettes, narrowing towards the apex, sometimes integrated in septate branches, hyaline to yellow, smooth or becoming verrucose. Conidia fusiform to ellipsoid to subcylindrical or oblong, 0–7-septate, with distinct hilum at both ends, hyaline to yellow, smooth to finely ornamented, with or without mucoid sheath, formed in chains or agglutinating into large sphaerical or irregular white masses (adapted from Lombard et al. 2015).
Type genus – Tilachlidium Preuss
Notes – Tilachlidiaceae was introduced to accommodate two synnematous genera, Septofusidium and Tilachlidium, supported by phylogenetic analysis (Lombard et al. 2015). Gams (1971) had classified Tilachlidium as a member of Hypocreales family incertae sedis, whereas Septofusidium was placed in Nectriaceae based on morphology. These two genera share similar asexual morph characters and are saprobic or parasitic on other fungi (Petch 1931b, Mains 1951, Gams 1971, Samson 1974, Sun et al. 2019). They produce synnematous asexual morphs with hyaline conidia.