Glomerellales members diagnostically present
peritheciateascomata with a 2-3 layered
perithecial wall and a periphysate
ostiolum.
Paraphyses are tapered and thin-walled. The
asci are unitunicate, 8-
spored and
inamyloid, and the apex is either thickened without visible discharge mechanism or thin-walled with a distinct annulus.[1]
Unlike other orders within Hypocreomycetidae, members of the Glomerellales exhibit a darkly pigmented
perithecia.[2] The order was first recognized by Chadefaud (1960), although it was not validly published at this time. It has since been cited by Lanier et al. (1978) and invalidly published by Locquin (1984).[2] However the Glomerellales was still not valid until the study by M. Réblová et al. in 2011 with three families viz. Australiascaceae, Glomerellaceae and Reticulascaceae based on multi-locus phylogenetic analysis.[1]
Ecology
Families Reticulascaceae and Malaysiascaceae are typically involved in
nutrient cycling as saprobes on decaying plant matter. Australiascaceae contains many food plant
pathogens in addition to
saprobic species and Glomerellaceae with its single genus Colletotrichum likewise presents many important plant pathogens of which some have significant economical impact.[4][3][5]
The genus rich family Plectosphaerellaceae holds a variety of both saprobes and plant pathogens, as well as several species of opportunistic animal pathogens. Some species are also used as
biocontrol agents, making the Plectosphaerellaceae an important group for study on many levels.[3]
Taxonomy
Glomerellales contains five families and 31 placed genera (as of 2020):[3]
Glomerellales also currently includes some genera Incertae sedis, including Ascodinea (Samuels, Cand & Magni, 1997)[11] and the more recent Wenhuisporus (C.H. Kuo & Goh, 2022).[12]
History
Réblová et al. described Glomerellales in 2011 and simultaneously introduced the three families Reticulascaceae, Australiascaceae and Glomerellascaceae. In 2015 and 2016, the previously described Incertae sedis Sordariomycetes group Plectosphaerellales was placed in Glomerellales based on molecular data
phylogenetic analyses.[13][14] Tibpromma and K.D. Hyde later described a new family Malaysiascaceae (2018) to accommodate the previously described Incertae sedis Glomerellales genus Malaysiasca (Crous & M.J. Wingf., 2016).[15][16]
After a convoluted path to legitimized description, Glomerellales has been established as a
monophyletic group through phylogenetic analyses.[3][1] However, there appears to be some discrepancy between the literature and some of the common species databases when it comes to one of its members, the family Australiascaceae. While publications refer to this group and its members as a family within Glomerellales based on phylogenetic analyses using molecular data,[1][17][12][14][10][3][18] as of March 2022 several major databases place Australiascaceae in
Chaetosphaeriales (GBIF, EOL, COL, MycoBank, see references or taxon identifiers below)[19][20][21] with reference to the original Glomerellales description in Réblová et al. (2011) (which introduces Australiascaceae and places it in Glomerellales). There appears to be no discussion about this discrepancy or its cause as of yet.
^
abcZHANG, NING; WANG, ZHENG (2015). Esser, Karl (ed.). Systematics and Evolution. The Mycota (2nd ed.). Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. p. 63.
ISBN978-3-662-46010-8.