Hemiascosporiaceae (Hemiascomycetidae: Dipodascales), A New Family Based on Hemiascosporium Spinulosum

SUMMARY

The monotypic new genus Hemiascosporium (type: H. spinulosum Batra) is a gametangiogamous, haplobiontic hemiascomycete. Along with Helicogonium White, it is placed in the Hemiascosporiaceae, a new family of Dipodascales. Hemiascosporium spinulosum was isolated from soil in a betel vine garden. Its anisogametangia develop on a more or less specialized branch of a vegetative hypha. The gametangia fuse, the coiled female gametangium elongates, usually in the middle, and becomes an octosporic, pyriform to broadly cylindrical hemiascus. The ascospores of H. spinulosum are reddish brown, globose, spinulose and average 13.2 μ in diam. It does not form asexual spores.