Ophiodeira Kohlm. & Volkm. - Kohlm., Canad. J. Bot. 66 (10): 2062 (1988)

Description.

Saprobic on submerged woody substrates in marine habitats. Sexual morph. Ascomata ellipsoidal, immersed under a thin black stroma, ostiolate, light brown, solitary or gregarious, neck elongated, periphysate. Peridium thin, forming textura angularis. Catenophyses absent. Asci 8 - spored, clavate, pedunculate, thin-walled, unitunicate, deliquescing early, lacking an apical apparatus. Ascospores hyaline, 1 - septate, ellipsoidal, not constricted at the septum, with a single polar appendage, initially hamate, separating from the spore wall and eventually uncoiling to form long, sticky filaments. Asexual morph. Undetermined.

Type species.

Ophiodeira monosemeia Kohlm. & Volkm. - Kohlm., Canad. J. Bot. 66 (10): 2062 (1988).

Notes.

The monotypic genus, Ophiodeira is characterized by ascospores with a single polar appendage uncoiling to form sticky filaments, as found in the genera: Halosarpheia, Ascosacculus and Magnisphaera. Ophiodeira differs from the three previous genera by having ascomata that are immersed under a thin black stroma, deliquescing asci, absence of catenophyses and a single ascospore appendage that is cap-like, attached to the apex and side of the ascospore, at first stiff and homogenous, in water becoming soft and banner-like, eventually transforming into a coil of delicate fibers that uncoil and form long, sticky filaments (Kohlmeyer and Volkmann-Kohlmeyer 1988; Jones et al. 2009).

Ophiodeira closely resembles Tirispora in that both genera have a single polar appendage that unfurls in water. However, both genera differ in that Ophiodeira has ascomata produced under a thin, black stroma, lacks catenophyses, asci deliquesce at maturity and lacks an apical pore in the ascus (Jones et al. 1994).

Molecular evaluation.

Ophiodeira formed a highly supported monophyletic clade sister to Oceanitis species (Campbell et al. 2003; Pang et al. 2003 b; Sakayaroj et al. 2011), and this is confirmed in the present study (Fig. 4). Further collections and sequences are required as only one strain (JK 5164 A) from the type material, has been sequenced. Divergence-time analysis places the split between Ophiodeira and Oceanitis near the mid-Cretaceous (~ 105 MYA, 95 % CI: 26.6–414 MYA), underscoring their independent generic status (Fig. 5).