Neolecta

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Neolecta
Neolecta irregularis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Subdivision: Taphrinomycotina
Class: Neolectomycetes
O.E. Erikss. & Winka 1997[3]
Order: Neolectales
Landvik, O.E. Erikss, Gargas & P. Gustaffs. 1993[2]
Family: Neolectaceae
Redhead 1977[1]
Genus: Neolecta
Speg.
1881
Species

Neolecta is a genus of

ascomycetous fungi. The species share the English designation "Earth tongues" along with some better-known fungi (e.g. Geoglossum, Microglossum
) with a similar general form, but in fact they are only distantly related.

Neolecta is the only genus belonging to the family Neolectaceae, which is the only family belonging to the order Neolectales. Neolectales, in turn, is the only order belonging to the class Neolectomycetes, which belongs to the subdivision Taphrinomycotina of the Ascomycota.[4]

Description

Fruiting bodies take the shape of unbranched to lobed bright yellowish, orangish to pale yellow-green colored, club-shaped, smooth, fleshy columns up to about 7 centimetres (3 inches) tall.[1][5]

Neolecta fruitbodies consist of

conidia by budding, hinting at the possibility that it also produces a yeast state.[1]

Similar species

Species of the genus may resemble those of Clavulinopsis and Spathularia.[6]

Taxonomy

Neolecta does not have any close relatives. Phylogenetically, it clusters weakly with a bizarre group of basal Ascomycota

Pneumocystis, a yeast-like genus of mammalian parasites. To date, the genus has been unculturable, suggesting it is either obligately parasitic or symbiotic. It provides important evidence for the evolutionary history of the Ascomycota and has been called a living fossil.[8]

The genome of N. irregularis has been sequenced.

multicellularity
is deeply rooted in the Ascomycota.

Distribution and habitat

Neolecta is found in Asia, Northern Europe, North America, and southern Brazil.

saprotrophic, or mutualistic.[5] It is said to be edible.[1]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1139/b77-041
    .
  2. ^ Landvik S.; et al. (1993). "Relationships of the genus Neolecta (Neolectales ordo nov., Ascomycotina) inferred from 18S rDNA sequences" (PDF). Systema Ascomycetum. 11: 114.
  3. ^ Eriksson OE, Winka K (1997). "Supraordinal taxa of Ascomycota". Myconet. 1: 1–16.
  4. ^
    PMID 21652303
    .
  5. ^
    PMID 14563128
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0-593-31998-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link
    )
  7. doi:10.1016/S0953-7562(96)80122-5
    .
  8. JSTOR 3761675
    .
  9. PMID 28176784
    .
  10. JSTOR 3759112
    .

External links

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