SPECIES NAME:
Cercophora scortea (Cain) Lundquist
COLLECTION DATA:
On wet wood near stream but not immersed in water. Watervale, PEI CANADA, Aug 10/2020. Deposited in NB Museum herbarium (AC – 2437 collection number).
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Ascomata ovoid to pyriform, moderate to large 300µ dia, dark brown with a pale area (hyaline gel layer) beneath peridium (see photos), sparsely covered with brown, short, septate straight hairs, asci with a long stipe; spores sigmoid, geniculate at lower end, apical cell brown in ascus, 38-45×5-6µm, ellipsoid brown head 14-18×10-12µm.
Several collections from US, Canada, Estonia and Sweden are recorded on Mycoportal. According to a posting on Ascofrance (09-05-2018), Andrew Miller has sequenced the entire genome based on N Am collections. The species seems to be more common on dung in Europe compared to the woody substrate in N.Am.
REFERENCES:
Fungal Genomics Resource (JGI MycoCosm SMH 41 31-1 v1.0. Good photos on Ascofrance and a reference in Freshwater Ascos Illinois website
Huhndorf, S. M., A. N. Miller and F. A. Fernández (2004). “Molecular systematics of the Sordariales: the order and the family Lasiosphaeriaceae redefined.” Mycologia 96(2): 368-387.
Kruys, Å., S. M. Huhndorf and A. N. Miller (2015). “Coprophilous contributions to the phylogeny of Lasiosphaeriaceae and allied taxa within Sordariales (Ascomycota, Fungi).” Fungal Diversity 70(1): 101-113.
Saupe, S. J., C. Clavé, M. Sabourin and J. Bégueret (2000). “Characterization of hch, the Podospora anserina homolog of the het-c heterokaryon incompatibility gene of Neurospora crassa.” Current genetics 38(1): 39-47.
Shearer CA and Raja HA (2010). Freshwater Ascomycetes Database: http://fungi.life.illinois.edu/ (Accessed on June 21, 2021)