VII. Wood Decay, Substrate Specificity,
and Distribution
All Dacrymycetes species grow on wood,
and presumably all are more or lessstrong
brown-rot fungiin coniferous and angiosperm
wood, but lignin decomposition may also occur
(Seifert 1983 ). Brown rot is considered an evo-
lutionarily old form of wood decay (Floudas
et al. 2012 ).
Calocera cornea (Fig. 13.2k) preferably
grows on angiosperm wood, whileCalocera vis-
cosa(Fig.13.2l) is widespread on coniferous
wood. There areno reliable data on distribu-
tion patternsbecause species identification is
unclear in many cases.D. stillatus(Fig.13.2a, b)
is considered a species of cosmopolitan distri-
bution (McNabb 1973 ), whileD. dendrocalami
(Fig.13.8b) is only known from Taiwan and
Japan (Shirouzu et al. 2009 ), andDitiola haasii
(Fig.13.2e) from the Northern Alps (Oberwinkler
1989 ). Data on both subtrate specificity and
species distribution suffer considerably because
of inadequate sampling. An example of this
isDacryonaema rufum(Figs.13.2jand13.7c,
d), a species originally described in SwedenFig. 13.6Dacryoscyphus chrysochilus.(a) Habit of con-
idiomata; upper one seen from above, lower left from
side, lower right in a median section,bar¼2 mm; all
otherbars¼ 10 mm. (b) Hyphal arrangement in center
of conidioma. (c) Conidiophores with developing
conidia. (d) Conidia with three arms. (e) Conidia with
two arms (right) and four arms (left). From Kirschner
and Yang ( 2005 )Dacrymycetes 363