Ascosphaera

Ascosphaera is a genus of fungi in the family Ascosphaeraceae. It was described in 1955 by mycologists Charles F. Spiltoir and Lindsay S. Olive.^[2] Members of the genus are insect pathogens. The type species, A. apis, causes chalkbrood disease in honey bees.^[3] The reproductive ascospores of the fungus are produced within a unique structure, the spore cyst, or sporocyst.^[4]

Ascosphaera
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.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Eurotiomycetes
Order:	Onygenales
Family:	Ascosphaeraceae
Genus:	Ascosphaera L.S.Olive & Spiltoir (1955)
Type species
Ascosphaera apis (Maasen ex Claussen) L.S.Olive & Spiltoir (1955)
Synonyms
Pericystis Betts (1912)[1]

Species

• A. acerosa
• A. aggregata
• A. apis
• A. asterophora
• A. atra
• A. callicarpa^[5]
• 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