Ascobolaceae
Ascobolaceae Boud. ex Sacc.
Facesoffungi number: FoF 04197
Ascobolaceae taxa (Table 2) are mainly saprobic, with species associated with herbivore dung (Kirk et al. 2008; Ekanayaka et al. 2017a, b). However, some species have been recorded on vegetable material and burnt substrates (Richardson 2007). The group contains species with small, fleshy apothecia, usually with a furfuraceous or villose disk, due to the protruding asci, bearing dark coloured ascospores at maturity. Asci are clavate to saccate, with dome-shaped or truncate apices and open by a conspicuous operculum. Ascospores are usually dark, in shades of red, purple or brown, with a smooth to strongly ornamented
episporium and released in a single cluster (Van Brummelen 1967). Asexual morphs have not been recorded (Van Brummelen 1967; Bezerra and Kimbrough 1976; Nagao et al. 2003; Wijayawardene et al. 2017a). Recent studies on Ascobolaceae include those of Doveri (2014), Melo et al. (2014), Herrera et al. (2013) and Aluoch et al. (2015). We illustrated Ascobolus albidus and a recent collection of a Thecotheus sp. as representatives of this family
Recent Genus
RutstroemiaXeropilidium
Ionomidotis
Recent Species
Encoelia furfuraceaRutstroemia tiliacea
Xeropilidium dennisii