''Ascosphaera'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...
in the family
Ascosphaeraceae. It was described in 1955 by mycologists Charles F. Spiltoir and
Lindsay S. Olive.
Members of the genus are insect pathogens. The
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
, ''
A. apis'', causes chalkbrood disease in
honey bee
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosm ...
s.
The reproductive
ascospore
An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or ...
s of the fungus are produced within a unique structure, the spore cyst, or sporocyst.
Species
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A. acerosa''
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A. aggregata''
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A. apis''
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A. asterophora''
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A. atra''
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A. callicarpa''
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A. celerrima''
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A. cinnamomea''
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A. duoformis''
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A. fimicola''
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A. flava''
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A. fusiformis''
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A. larvis''
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A. major''
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A. naganensis''
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A. osmophila''
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A. parasitica''
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A. pollenicola''
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A. proliperda''
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A. scaccaria''
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A. solina''
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A. subcuticularis''
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A. tenax''
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A. torchioi''
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A. variegata''
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A. verrucosa''
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A. xerophila''
References
External links
*
Onygenales
Eurotiomycetes genera
Taxa described in 1955
{{Eurotiomycetes-stub