Microcera
Microcera is a genus of Ascomycete fungi in the Nectriaceae family.
It was thought to be monotypic genus with only one species, Microcera coccophila As well as former species Microcera coccophila var. platyspora being reclassified as Microcera coccophila. Microcera coccophila was initially found on the bark of young living trees of Salix and Fraxinus in France.
The genus has been considered as a synonym of genus Fusarium in major taxonomic revisions.
Then Gräfenhan et al. in 2011 resurrected genus Microcera based on DNA sequence data and accepted four Microcera species, viz. M. coccophila, M. diploa, M. rubra and M. larvarum. Lombard et al. then further investigated phylogenetic relationships of Microcera based on DNA sequence data and reported that it constitutes a lineage distantly related to Fusarium but closely related to Fusicolla and Macroconia. Both within the Nectriaceae family.
Then in 2021, 3 fungi were associated with Kuwanaspis howardi, a scale insect found on Phyllostachys heteroclada and Pleioblastus amarus in China. New species Podonectria kuwanaspidis sp. nov. and Podonectria novae-zelandiae, as well as Microcera kuwanaspidis sp. nov.
It has a cosmopolitan distribution worldwide.
Species
As accepted by Species Fungorum;- Microcera chrysomphali
- Microcera coccophila
- Microcera diploa
- Microcera kuwanaspidis
- Microcera larvarum
- Microcera physciae
- Microcera pseudaulacaspidis
- Microcera rubra