Relationship of fossil fungal spore genus Polycellaesporonites Anil Chandra, R.K. Saxena & Setty 1984 with extant Alternaria Nees 1816

SAXENA, R.K ; NUÑEZ OTAÑO N.B.; O'KEEFE, J. M. K.

Geophytology

The Palaeobotanical Society

Lugar: Lucknow; Año: 2022

0376-5156

As Polycellaesporonites spores are morphologically identical to extant Alternaria spores. We equate Polycellaesporonites Anil Chandra, R.K. Saxena & Setty 1984 as a later synonym of Alternaria Nees 1816, However, as molecular studies of Alternaria have demonstrated that it is a highly diverse genus with interspecific variation in spore characters (Joly 1964, Simmons 2007, Want et al. 2011, Lawrence et al. 2012, Woudenberg et al. 2013, 2015, Dettman & Eggerston 2021), and for the sake of taxonomic stability at the present time, we place previously defined species of Polycellaesporonites in the genus Alternaria as new fossil species. A necessary next step in the study of the genus Alternaria is a polyphasic examination of near-surface Holocene (and older) fossil specimens that contain amplifiable nuclear material in conjunction with a detailed morphological study of dispersed reproductive parts.