NAME Diplodites sahnii
AGE Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian).   AGE span: 70.6...65.5 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Fungi Imperfecti, Sphaeropsidales.
FIGURE(S)
Image of
Pl.28fig.5.jpg
FIGURE REFERENCE Singhai LC. 1974. Fossil fungi from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Madhya Pradesh, India; Journal of Biological Sciences, v. 17, p. 92-102.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY D. sahnii (Singhai) Kalgutkar, Nambudiri & Tidwell 1993, p. 115.
LOCATION Mohgaonkalan locality in Chhindwara District, Madya Pradesh, India.
ORIG DESCRIPTION* Pycnidia spherical. Ostiolate and measuring 100-200 x 100-160 µm; conidia dark brown, 2-celled, ellipsoid or ovoid or oblong [sic], measuring 9-14 x 6-8 µm; conidiophores short and simple, measuring 4 x 2 µm.
COMMENTS* The characters of the pycnidium and the conidia of the present fossil fungus seem to resemble the living genera Diplodia Fr. and Botryodiplodia Sacc. belonging to Fungi Imperfecti. In Botryodiplodia the conidia are ovoid to elongate and branched whereas in the fossil form elongate and branched conidia are not present, thus the two can be differentiated. In Diplodia, unbranched, 2-celled, dark brown conidia are present as in the present fossil form. The size of the conidia in Diplodia zeae being 6 x 25-30 µm, Diplodia sp. 19.5 x 11 µm (Mahabalé, 1969) and that of the fossil fungus in consideration 14 x 8 µm; thus the conidia of the present fungus are smaller in size than those of Diplodia. The genus Diplodia, though broadly resembling the fossil, has much larger conidia than the fossil form.

The present form also resembles the living forms Ascochyta and Diplodia [Diplodina], but can be easily distinguished as these forms possess hyaline conidia in contrast to brown conidia in the fossil form. The present form shows resemblance with the fossil Diplodia rodei Mahabalé 1969 in its oval and unbranched 2-celled conidia, but it distinctly differs from D. rodei in that its conidia are not purple but dark brown, much smaller in size and not elongated. Besides, the present fungus has not been discovered on tissues of leaves, as D. rodei.
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Singhai LC. 1974. Fossil fungi from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Madhya Pradesh, India; Journal of Biological Sciences, v. 17, p. 92-102.
K&J REMARKS Diplodia sahnii may not be validly published, if the two different slide numbers, cited under "holotype", represent two different specimens (however, Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) assume that the slides may be different peels of the same specimen).

The illustration of the pycnidium was too poor to allow Kalgutkar and Jansonius to represent it in a drawing on their Plate 28.
TYPE
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Diplodia sahnii Singhai 1974, p. 97, pl. 1, figs. 5-8 (holotype slide Nos. 72 and 181: all same specimen?).; Diplodites sahnii
SERIAL NUMBER 345
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.