Episphaeria

Template:Taxobox

***Episphaeria*** is a genus of fungus in the Agaricales. The genus is monotypic, and contains the single rare species ***Episphaeria fraxinicola***, found in Europe. Its familial position is not known with certainty. The tiny fruit bodies of the fungus resemble minute, white cups that grow scattered or in groups on the bark of ash trees.

## Taxonomy and classification

The single species of *Episphaeria* was originally described under the name *Cyphella fraxinicola* by Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome in an 1875 publication. Otto Kuntze transferred the species to *Chaetocypha* in 1891, and Carleton Rea moved it to *Phaeocyphella* in 1922.
Marinus Anton Donk circumscribed *Episphaeria* in 1962 with *E. fraxinicola* as the type species. The specific epithet *fraxinicola* is derived from *Fraxinus* meaning "ash" and "colo" meaning "I inhabit".

The classification of *Episphaeria* with the Agaricales is not certain. Rolf Singer's 1986 *The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy* included the genus in the Crepidotaceae based on morphological similarity, although that family as Singer envisioned it has since been shown with molecular analysis to be polyphyletic. The 10th edition of the *Dictionary of the Fungi* (2008) includes *Episphaeria* in the Inocybaceae, although they note that it may be appropriate for the Strophariaceae. They also make no distinction between the families Inocybaceae and Crepidotaceae, but rather call them both Inocybaceae. In a classification with both families present, a placement of *Episphaeria* within Crepidotaceae is more appropriate. The online taxonomical database MycoBank lists it as part of the Strophariaceae, while Index Fungorum classifies it in the Inocybaceae. A 2010 publication designed to clarify circumscription and delimitation of the Crepidotaceae and related Agaricales families includes the genus in the Crepidotaceae, but without molecular support, as they were unable to obtain any sequence data from their material of *E. fraxinicola*.

## Description

The minute fruit bodies of *Episphaeria fraxinicola* are cyphelloid, meaning they resemble species of discomycetes (or "cup fungi") in the Ascomycota. The fruit bodies consist of caps that are 0.25–2 mm, white, circular or nearly so, and lay flat on the substrate without a stem. They grow scattered or in groups, and are covered on their external surface with short hairs. The hymenium (spore-bearing surface) is light yellow, but becomes pale-brownish-gray as the spores mature. The spores are pale olive in color, elliptical, and measure 6 by 4 μm.

## Habitat and distribution

*Episphaeria fraxinicola* is a rare wood-decay fungus. It grows on the bark of ash trees (*Fraxinus* species), and prefers to grow on thin twigs at high heights. It is known only from Europe; collections have been made in Austria, Denmark, England, Ireland, Norway, and The Netherlands.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Kirk 2008`
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Berkeley 1875`
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Kuntze 1891`
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Rea 1922`
5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Donk 1962`
6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Singer 1986`
7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Moncalvo 2002`
8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Matheny 2006`
9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Petersen 2010`
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Unterseher 2006`
11. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `urlGBIF Portal`
12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Dam 1991`

## External links

* Template:IndexFungorum
* http://jlcheype.free.fr/ Image

Template:Taxonbar