Ascosphaera
Genus of fungi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ascosphaera is a genus of fungi in the family Ascosphaeraceae. It was described in 1955 by mycologists Charles F. Spiltoir and Lindsay S. Olive.[2] Members of the genus are insect pathogens. The type species, A. apis, causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees.[3] The reproductive ascospores of the fungus are produced within a unique structure, the spore cyst, or sporocyst.[4]
| Ascosphaera | |
|---|---|
| |
| A) habitat. Phragmites reeds and female Chelostoma florisomne returning with pollen for her brood. B) fecal pellet of C. florisomne larva covered with spore cysts; pale spore balls are visible through the transparent spore cyst wall. C) close-up of spore cyst showing spore balls and smooth, unornamented spore cyst wall. D) spore balls. E) bacilliform ascospores. Scale bars: B = 200 µm, C = 50 µm, C = 10 µm, D = 15 µm, E = 10 µm. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Eurotiomycetes |
| Order: | Onygenales |
| Family: | Ascosphaeraceae |
| Genus: | Ascosphaera L.S.Olive & Spiltoir (1955) |
| Type species | |
| Ascosphaera apis (Maasen ex Claussen) L.S.Olive & Spiltoir (1955) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Pericystis Betts (1912)[1] | |
Species
- A. acerosa
- A. aggregata
- A. apis
- A. asterophora
- A. atra
- A. callicarpa[5]
- A. celerrima
- A. cinnamomea
- A. duoformis
- A. fimicola
- A. flava
- A. fusiformis
- A. larvis
- A. major
- A. naganensis
- A. osmophila
- A. parasitica
- A. pollenicola
- A. proliperda
- A. scaccaria
- A. solina
- A. subcuticularis
- A. tenax
- A. torchioi
- A. variegata
- A. verrucosa
- A. xerophila
