Tumularia aquatica, Tumularia aquatica
Anamorph: Conidiomata absent. Conidiophores 20-60 µm long, 2-3 µm broad, bearing a single terminal conidium. Conidia 24-34 x 12-16 µm, hyaline and usually two-celled with the upper cell much larger than the lower. Three-celled conidia have a large middle cell with a small one above and below it. Occasionally the spores are unicellular.
Teleomorph: Ascostromata perithecial, 300-500 µm diam, ± spherical, immersed in herbaceous tissue with a flush ostiole, visible from the surface as a black ring surrounding a pale central part; erumpent to superficial on woody substrata. Interascal tissue composed of branched septate pseudoparaphyses ca 1.5 µm diam, sparsely anastomosing above the asci. Ascospores 22-29 (-34) x (3.5-) 4-5 µm, fusiform, hyaline, with a constricted ± median septum and with the wall bulging slightly above and below the septum, the upper cell sometimes slightly shorter and wider than the lower cell, the ends acute, surrounded by a gelatinous sheath 1-2 µm thick, sometimes extended at the apices. Senescent ascospores usually 3-septate and pale brown.
Not assessed, but widespread and frequently encountered.
Populations may be affected by agricultural nutrient run-off.
This species has most frequently been referred to as Massarina aquatica (Webster 1965, Aptroot 1998), but the type of that genus was found to be unrelated to most of the other species. Many were transferred to Lophiostoma (Hyde et al. 2002), but Tumularia aquatica does not have elongated ostioles and Lophiostoma as then circumscribed is almost certainly polyphyletic. No other species of Lophiostoma is known to have a Tumularia-like anamorph, and that genus name is now available since the dual nomenclature system was abolished. Unpublished molecular data suggest that Tumularia might belong in the Lentitheciaceae, but more research is need to confirm that position. Lentithecium aquaticum (Zhang et al. 2009) is a different species.
Associated with woody substrata, e.g. Alnus glutinosa, Quercus and Ulmus spp. and also herbaceous material such as leaves of these trees and culms and leaves of aquatic plants such as Phragmites australis and Carex acutiformis.
Widespread in the British Isles and northern and central Europe, also reported from extra-European countries including Mauritius and South Africa.
Presumably saprobic, with an aero-aquatic habit. Frequently found in foam samples.