Mortierellaceae

Classification

Mortierellaceae A. Fischer, 1892 (In Rabenhorst, Krypt. Fl. 1(4): 268).

With the characteristics of the order.

Type genus: Mortierella Coemans.

KEY TO THE GENERA OF MORTIERELLACEAE

A. Reproductive structures (sporangia) formed in sporocarps —— Modicella

AA. Reproductive structures (sporangia, chlamydospores, zygospores) not formed in sporocarps —— B

B. Sporangia not produced; echinulate chlamydospores formed; zygospores produced or not —— Mortierella (in part)

BB. Sporangia always formed; chlamydospores and/or zygospores produced or not —— C

C. Sporangium more or less transversely cylindrical, constricted centrally and appearing paired; with terminal spines; often with a pseudocolumella —— Lobosporangium

CC. Sporangia globose to obpiriform —— D

D. Sporangiospores cylindrical, with an appendage at each end; aquatic, reported on midge larvae —— Aquamortierella

DD. Sporangiospores without appendages, terrestrial, usually in soil or dung —— E

E. Sporangiophores arising in succession on a segment of aerial mycelium of indeterminant growth; sporangia multispored —— Dissophora

EE. Sporangiophores arising randomly from ordinary substrate or aerial mycelium; sporangia uni-, bi- or multispored —— F

F. Sporangium-bearing branches arising from vesicles or irregularly swollen hyphal segments —— G

FF. Sporangiophores not arising from vesicles —— H

G. Fertile vesicle formed immediately below a terminal primary sporangium —— Mortierella sect. Actinomortierella

GG. Fertile vesicles or enlarged hyphal segments not subtending a primary sporangium —— Umbelopsis (Umbelopsidaceae, Mucorales)

H. Sporangiohores arising from substrate mycelium; sporangia multispored, or if uni- or bispored then lacking the characteristics listed in couplet “II” —— Mortierella

HH. Sporangiophores arising from aerial mycelium, developed on elongate, differentiated, intercalary swollen hyphal segments, or lateral, several times bi- or trifurcate, somewhat swollen branches; sporangia uni- or bispored —— I

I. Sporangiophores simple or once- or twice-branched, arising from segments of aerial hyphae —— Mortierella sect. Haplosporangium

II. Sporangiophores several times bi- or trifurcate, arising laterally from nonsegmented aerial hyphae —— Gamsiella

Synopsis of Genera

[Actinomortierella, = Mortierella Coemans Sect. Actinomortierella according to Gams, 1977].

AQUAMORTIERELLA Embree & Indoh, 1967 (Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 94: 464); 1 sp. (Embree and Indoh, 1967— illus.; Indoh, 1967— ILLUS.).

[Azygozygum, a species of Mortierella according to Plaats-Niterink et al., 1976; Gams. 1977]

DISSOPHORA Thaxter, 1914 [Bot. Gaz. (Crawfordsville) 58: 361]; 2 spp. (Thaxter, 1914—ILLUS.; Gams and Carriero, 1989).

[Echinosporangium Malloch, a synonym of Lobosporangium]

[Haplosporangium, = Mortierella Coemans sect. Haplosporangium according to Gams, 1977 — key to spp.].

GAMSIELLA (R.K. Benjamin) Benny & Blackwell, 2004 (Mycologia 96: 147); 1 sp. (Benjamin, 1978 — ILLUS.; isolated from Poland by Beblowska, 1991-1992, Wrzosek and Gajowniczek, 1998).

LOBOSPORANGIUM Blackwell and Benny, 2004 (in Benny and Balckwell, Mycologia 96: 144); 1 sp. (Malloch, 1967 — illus. as Echinosporangium; Benny and Blackwell, 2004 — ILLUS.)

MODICELLA Kanouse, 1936 (Mycologia 28: 60); 2 spp. (Thaxter, 1922—ILLUS. as Endogone malleola Harkn. and E. reniformis Bres.; Gerdemann and Trappe, 1974; Trappe and Schenck, 1982).

MORTIERELLA Coemans, 1863 (Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belgique, Sér. 2, 15: 536); 68+ spp. (Linnemann, 1969 — ILLUS. and key to spp.; Kuhlman, 1972 — illus., 1975— illus.; Gams, 1976 — ILLUS., 1977 — KEY TO SPP.; von Arx, 1982; Ansell and Young, 1982 — illus., 1983 — illus.).

= Haplosporangium Thaxter (fide Gams, 1977).

= Azygozygum Chesters (fide Plaats-Niterink et al.,1976).

= Actinomortierella Chalabuda (fide Gams, 1977).

[Mortierella Coemans subgen. Micromucor has been elevated to generic rank (von Arx, 1982) and here it is treated as a synonym of Umbelopsis (Umbelopsidaceae, Mucorales) by Meyer and Gams, 2003].

[Mortierella Coemans subgen. Gamsiella has been elevated to generic rank (Benny and Blackwell, 2004)].

[Umbelopsis originally described as a deuteromycete (Amos and Barnett, 1966); later von Arx (1982) treated the genus as a member of the Mucorales, it is here treated as the only genus in the Umbelopsidaceae (Mucorales) by Gams and Meyer (2003)].

Updated Jan 15, 2005