NAME Asterinites colombiensis
AGE Paleocene.   AGE span: 65.5...55.8 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Ascomycetes, Microthyriales.
FIGURE(S)
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FIGURE REFERENCE Doubinger J, Pons D. 1973. Les champignons épiphylles du Tertiaire de Colombie. I. Le gisement de Cerrejón (Paléocène-Éocène); 96e Congrès National des Sociétés savantes, Toulouse, 1971, Sciences, v. 5, p. 233-252.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY A. colombiensis Doubinger & Pons, ex Kalgutkar & Jansonius 2000.
LOCATION Cerrejon basin, Colombia.
ORIG DESCRIPTION* Very dense colony, reddish-brown to sooty in color. Branches alternate or unilateral, extending at varying angles. Mycelial cells 1.5-4 µm in diameter, 7-30 µm long. Lateral walls of hyphae rectilinear or sinuate. Hyphopodia capitate, bicellular, lateral at regular intervals. Cells of foot twisting, wine glass-shaped or cylindrical, 5-15 µm long, 1-5 µm wide. They extend at times to form a short filament. They can also be small, 1 µm long and 1-1.5 µm wide, or absent (young unicellular hyphopodia). Stigmocysts 3-12 µm in diameter, complete and globular (young) or strongly lobate, never angular. Pores rounded, 1-1.5 µm in diameter. Mucronate hyphopodia and mycelial setae absent. The lateral filaments mostly branch close to 90º. [Unedited translation from French; GSC Calgary Library, Translation No. 4047624.]
COMMENTS* The external mycelium bears highly differentiated, strongly lobate stigmopodia which send out haustoria into the epidermal cells of the host. These characteristics have been noted in the present genera Maublancia Arn., Asterina Lev. and Dimerosporium Fuch. (series Wardineae, family Microthyriaceae; after Arnaud 1918), as well as in the genera Asterostomella Speg. (series Asterostomellopsideae, family Microthyriopsidaceae; Arnaud 1918) and Meliola Fries (order Myriangiales, family Meliolaceae; Hansford 1961). The genera Maublancia and Dimerosporium have unicellular or bicellular stigmopodia whose terminal cell is strongly lobate, whereas the pedicel cell is often twisted and sometimes is extended to form a mycelial filament. The latter characteristic has been observed on the fossil species. The genus Asterostomella is very close. It was created for forms with pycnidia. "Asterostomella is a pycnidium of Asterina", according to Spegazzini. The fossil spores have not been preserved and it is difficult to make an exact comparison. A study of the fossil flora showed us the similarity of our specimens to the species described by Köck in 1939 and Dilcher in 1965 (Meliola anfracta), but our material lacks the mucronate hyphopodia and multicellular spores characteristic of the genus Meliola. Peters (1963) described a mycelium with lobate hyphopodia that was epiphyllous on the epidermis of Gramineae. This form is identical to that found by Hunger (1952) in the Eocene lignites of Geiseltal, which had been attributed to Asterina; it is more likely that both have affinity with Meliola. [Unedited translation from French; GSC Calgary Library, Translation No. T4047624.]
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Doubinger J, Pons D. 1973. Les champignons épiphylles du Tertiaire de Colombie. I. Le gisement de Cerrejón (Paléocène-Éocène); 96e Congrès National des Sociétés savantes, Toulouse, 1971, Sciences, v. 5, p. 233-252.
K&J REMARKS
TYPE
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) A. colombiensis Doubinger & Pons 1973, p. 238, pl. 2, figs. 1-6 (nom. nud.).; Asterinites colombiensis
SERIAL NUMBER 64
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.