{{Short description|Genus of fungi}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Ascosphaera callicarpa.png | image_caption =A) habitat. Phragmites reeds and female Chelostoma florisomne returning with pollen for her brood. B) fecal pellet of C. florisomne larva covered with spore cysts; pale spore balls are visible through the transparent spore cyst wall. C) close-up of spore cyst showing spore balls and smooth, unornamented spore cyst wall. D) spore balls. E) bacilliform ascospores. Scale bars: B = 200 µm, C = 50 µm, C = 10 µm, D = 15 µm, E = 10 µm. | taxon = Ascosphaera | authority = L.S.Olive & Spiltoir (1955) | type_species = ''Ascosphaera apis'' | type_species_authority = (Maasen ex Claussen) L.S.Olive & Spiltoir (1955) | synonyms_ref = | synonyms = ''Pericystis'' <small>Betts (1912)<ref name="Betts 1912"/></small> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = }}

'''''Ascosphaera''''' is a genus of fungi in the family Ascosphaeraceae. It was described in 1955 by mycologists Charles F. Spiltoir and Lindsay S. Olive.<ref name="Spiltoir 1955"/> Members of the genus are insect pathogens. The type species, ''A.&nbsp;apis'', causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees.<ref name="Capinera 2008"/> The reproductive ascospores of the fungus are produced within a unique structure, the spore cyst, or sporocyst.<ref>{{citation |author=Wynns, A.A. |author2=Jensen, A.B. |author3=Eilenberg, J. |author4=James, R. |year=2012 |title=''Ascosphaera subglobosa'', a new spore cyst fungus from North America associated with the solitary bee ''Megachile rotundata'' |journal=Mycologia |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=108–114 |doi=10.3852/10-047 |pmid=21828215|s2cid=26872248 }}</ref>

==Species== {{Div col}} *''A. acerosa'' *''A. aggregata'' *''A. apis'' *''A. asterophora'' *''A. atra'' *''A. callicarpa''<ref name="Wyns 2013"/> *''A. celerrima'' *''A. cinnamomea'' *''A. duoformis'' *''A. fimicola'' *''A. flava'' *''A. fusiformis'' *''A. larvis'' *''A. major'' *''A. naganensis'' *''A. osmophila'' *''A. parasitica'' *''A. pollenicola'' *''A. proliperda'' *''A. scaccaria'' *''A. solina'' *''A. subcuticularis'' *''A. tenax'' *''A. torchioi'' *''A. variegata'' *''A. verrucosa'' *''A. xerophila'' {{Div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Betts 1912">{{cite journal |author=Betts AD. |title=A bee-hive fungus, ''Pericystis alvei'', gen. et sp. nov. |journal=Annals of Botany |year=1912 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=795–800|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a089417 }}</ref>

<ref name="Capinera 2008">{{cite book |author=Capinera JL. |title=Encyclopedia of Entomology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i9ITMiiohVQC&pg=PA304 |year=2008 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-6242-1 |page=304}}</ref>

<ref name="Spiltoir 1955">{{cite journal |vauthors=Spiltoir CF, Olive LS |title=A reclassification of the genus ''Pericystis'' Betts |journal=Mycologia |year=1955 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=238–44 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59350/0047/002/0238.htm |doi=10.2307/3755414|jstor=3755414 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="Wyns 2013">{{cite journal |vauthors=Wynns AA, Jensen AB, Eilenberg J |year=2013 |title=''Ascosphaera callicarpa'', a new species of bee-loving fungus, with a key to the genus for Europe |journal=PLoS ONE |volume=8 |issue=9 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0073419 |doi-access=free |article-number=e73419 |pmid=24086280 |pmc=3783469|bibcode=2013PLoSO...873419W }}</ref>

}}

==External links== *{{IndexFungorum|376}}

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Category:Onygenales Category:Eurotiomycetes genera Category:Taxa described in 1955

{{Eurotiomycetes-stub}}