Dothideales are an

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

of bitunicate fungi consisting mainly of saprobic or plant parasitic species.

Description

Taxa in this order are characterized by the absence of a hamathecium (defined as

hyphae A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

or other tissues between asci) in a

locule A locule (: locules) or loculus (; : loculi) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usually refers to a chamber within an ovary ...

, and formation of ovoid to cylindrical fisstunicate asci (asci that have two wall layers that split at maturity in a

Jack-in-the-box A jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a Music Box, music box with a Crankset, crank. When the crank is turned, a music box mechanism in the toy plays a melody. After the crank has been turned a sufficient number of ti ...

-like fashion), usually in bundles or cluster called fascicles. During development, the asci push through the stromatic tissue, creating the locules.

Classification

Until 2001, this order was thought to contain five families: ''

Botryosphaeriaceae The Botryosphaeriaceae are a family of sac fungi (Ascomycetes), which is the type representative of the order Botryosphaeriales. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 26 genera and over 1500 species. Members of this order include not ...

'', '' Coccoidiaceae'', '' Doditheaceae'', ''

Dothioraceae The Dothioraceae are a family of fungi in the order Dothideales. Species in this family have a widespread distribution, and are biotrophic or necrotrophic A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic ...

'', and the ''

Planistromellaceae The Planistromellaceae are a family of fungi, with in the order Botryosphaeriales. In 2007, they were formerly, placed in the Dothideales order of the Dothideomycetes Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. ...

''. Several molecular phylogenetic studies since that time have resulted in an organization restructuring of classification. In the December 31, 2007 revision of Ascomycota classification the Dothideales contains two families, the ''Dothidiaceae'' and the ''Dothioraceae''. The ''Botryosphaeriaceae'' (order

Botryosphaeriales The Botryosphaeriales are an order of sac fungi (Ascomycetes), placed under class Dothideomycetes. Some species are parasites, causing leaf spot, plant rot, die-back or cankers, but they can also be saprophytes or endophytes. They occur worl ...

) and the ''Planistromellaceae'' have been moved to order and family ''

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'', respectively, pending the acquisition and analysis of additional molecular data. In 2022, ''Dothioraceae'' was classed as a synonym of ''Dothidiaceae''. Also families (with number of genera); '' Neocelosporiaceae'' (3), '' Saccotheciaceae'' (8) and '' Zalariaceae'' (1) were added to the order.

References

Ascomycota orders Taxa described in 1897 Taxa named by Gustav Lindau {{Dothideomycetes-stub