Lulworthiaceae

The type genus Lulworthia was originally described in 1916 by George Kenneth Sutherland to contain the species Lulworthia fucicola, a fungus found on the seaweed commonly known as the bladder wrack at Lulworth on the coast of Dorset, UK.[5] The fungus has since been collected several times from submerged wood, but never again from the original algal host; it was subsequently reported that specimens found on wood were morphologically different from those originally described growing on algae.[6] Since the original specimens had deteriorated beyond use, a holotype was designated, using submerged-wood specimens found in Chile in 1984.[7]

The genus Rostrupiella was created in 2007 to contain the species Rostrupiella danica, a Lulworthia-like species collected on driftwood found along the Danish coast and from the northwestern coast of the US.[8]

Lulworthia fucicola was originally found on the algae Fucus vesiculosus

As accepted by Wijayawardene et al. 2020 (with amount of species per genus);[4]

The ascomata, roughly spherical to cylindrical in shape, may be either embedded in or on the material to which the fruit body is attached. Atop the ascomata is a small rounded process with an opening (an ostiole) through which ascospores may be released. The brown- to black-colored ascomata can be either leathery (coriaceous) or dark-colored and readily broken (carbonaceous). The internal structure of the ascomata, the centrum, is at first filled with a transparent pseudoparenchyma (a type of tissue made of hyphae that are twisted and matted together) dissolves upon reaching maturity. The Lulworthiaceae have ascospores that are both filamentous, and transparent.[3]