NAME Dictyosporites dicotylophylli
AGE Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian).   AGE span: 70.6...65.5 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Fungi Imperfecti, Dictyosporae.
FIGURE(S)
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Pl.15fig.27.jpg
FIGURE REFERENCE Paradkar SA. 1976. Pollen and fungal spore association on a fossil leaf from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of India; Journal of Palynology, v. 10 (1974), p. 119-125.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY D. dicotylophylli (Paradkar) Kalgutkar & Jansonius 2000
LOCATION Mohgaonkalan, Chhindwara District, M.P., India.
ORIG DESCRIPTION* Saprophytic fungus; mycelium of septate hyphae; conidial head with paraphyses; conidia of dictyospore type, irregular in size and shape, 15-22 µm in size each, in simple or branched chains. Host: decaying dicotyledonous leaves.

Conidial head 60-65 µm in size; conidia in chains (textfigs. 1, 4; pl. 1, fig. 5), muriform, compound, dictyospore type, with transverse and vertical septa forming a checkered structure inside the compound spore (text-figs. 3, 7). Some conidial chains and many conidia are scattered on the leaf peel, as are some septate hyphae and some mycelial projections like paraphyses between the spore chains on the conidial head (text-fig. 1; pl. 1, fig. 5). Haustoria are absent. The growth of these spores is not acropetal. Conidia are irregular in size and shape (text-figs. 4, 7). They vary from 15-22 µm in size, and are oval, oblong, squarish or rounded in shape.
COMMENTS* This fungus is saprophytic as it does not show haustoria. Amongst the living forms it can be compared with the Imperfect fungus Arbuscula reported by Batista (1965) [Batista & Peres (1965)]. Arbuscula is recorded on fallen Eugenia leaves. The fossil fungus shows similarities with this living form in the possession of compound conidia, branching of conidial chains, irregular size and shape of conidia; other stages of the fossil fungus are not known. The specific name is after its occurrence on a dicotyledonous leaf.
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Paradkar SA. 1976. Pollen and fungal spore association on a fossil leaf from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of India; Journal of Palynology, v. 10 (1974), p. 119-125.
K&J REMARKS The diagnosis of the monotypic genus Arbusculites lacks criteria to set it apart from others; the description of the single species must be consulted also. It is doubtful that other mycelia could be assigned to this genus with certainty. The dictyospores, however, are clearly illustrated, and can be differentiated from other dispersed spores. For that reason, Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) transfer the single species to Dictyosporites, even if by doing so they make Arbusculites a junior taxonomic synonym of Dictyosporites.
TYPE
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Arbusculites dicotylophylli Paradkar 1976, p. 120, pl. 1, fig. 5.; Dictyosporites dicotylophylli
SERIAL NUMBER 289
PUBLIC COMMENTS Host: Dicotyledonous leaf? Check.
 *For source, see Publication Reference.