Bull. Natn. Sci. Mus., Tokyo, Ser. B, 32(3), pp. 123–127, September 22, 2006

Survey of Stream Spora of Penang Island and the Malay Peninsula
Tsuyoshi Hosoya1, Chihiro Tanaka2, Akiyoshi Yamada3 and Salleh Baharuddin4
1

Department of Botany, National Science Museum, Amakubo 4–1–1, Tsukuba, 305–0005 Japan
E-mail: hosoya@kahaku.go.jp
2
Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University
Kyoto 606–8502, Japan.
3
Dept. of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University
Minami-minowa, Kami-ina, Nagano 399–4598, Japan
4
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Abstract Stream spora collected from streams in Penang Island and Malaysian Peninsula arerecorded with illustrations. Twenty-five species among 21 genera and 4 unidentified taxa were recognized, and their differences in occurrence in relation to the sites were noted.
Key words : freshwater hyphomycetes, fungal biodiversity, Ingoldian fungi, Malaysia, streamspora.

Introduction
Fungal diversity in tropical areas where enormous biodiversity is known, is one of the intriguing topics in taxonomy and ecology. In mostareas of Southeast Asia where fungal inventory is
still insufficient, much attention has been paid toaccumulate data on local mycobiota.
Aquatic hyphomycetes are a remarkable groupof fungi that are characterized by artistic conidial
morphology considered to be an adaptation toaquatic habitat. Most of them are also known as“Ingoldian fungi” or “freshwater hyphomycetes”,
but the authors here treat them in a wider concept
to include aero-aquatic hyphomycetes. Studies onaquatic hyphomycetes have been carried out inmany areas for the following reasons: 1) Because
many conidia are known to be accumulated inwater foam and scum, thus sampling is relativelyeasy, 2) Due to the characteristic spore morphology, identification can be done instantly to someextent (usually to the genus rank, sometimes up
to the species rank) by observing the morphologyof the spores. About 300 taxa of aquatic hyphomycetes have been known, but tropical areas
are less surveyed (Goh, 1997; Marvanová, 1997).
In an expedition trip to the Malay Peninsula,some water foam samples were collected to survey the diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes. Isolation of spores from the samples was also carriedout. Some of the samples were fixed for direct
spore observation. Although aquatic hyphomycetes have been enthusiastically investigated by Nawawi and his colleagues in Malaysia(e.g. Nawawi, 1973a, b, c; Nawawi, 1985;
Nawawi and Kuthubutheen, 1988, 1989), a comprehensive comparison of biodiversity in local
areas has not been presented. To further elucidate
local mycobiota in Malaysia, the results of a preliminary observation on the spore diversity in thefixed water foam samples are presented in thepresent paper.
Materials and Methods
Water foam samples were collected in streams
in the following four sites in three localities (Fig.
1). 1) Titi Kerawang Waterfall, Penang Isl.
(5°24N, 100°47E) on Sept. 6, 2004, 2) Bukit
Gatang, Padang Rengas, Perak (4°46N,100°48E) on Sept. 9, 2004, and 3) two streams
in Bukit Larut, Perak (4°52N, 100°45E alt.
220 m) on Sept. 13, 2004. The foam samples
were scooped up by a spoon and collected into124T. Hosoya et al.

Fig. 1. Map of Malay Peninsula and collection sites. a. Map of Malay Peninsula. b. Penang Island. c. PerakState.

plastic containers, fixed with formalin immediately after collection. Phloxine B was added tothe samples to stain the spores, and the samples
were kept in room temperature until observation.
A drop of the samples was placed on a slide glassand scanned for fungal spores. Because of thethree dimensional morphology of the conidia, adjusting focus in a single frame in the photograph
was difficult. Hence, line drawings were preparedto draw the morphology using the Olympus BX51 microscope equipped with U-DA drawing
tubes and an 100 objective lens.
Results and Discussion
The spores observed and identified are listed
in Table 1, the representative of which are shownin Figs. 2 and 3. In total, 25 species of 21 genera
and 4 unidentified taxa were recognized. The
sample contained spores of several ecologicalgroups. Most of them were Ingoldian fungi withtypical tetraradiating or sigmoid to filiform conidia, but terrestrial hyphomycetes with appendages (e.g. Beltrania, Pestalotiopsis) or
longer spores without appendages (e.g.

Fusarium, Pseudospiropes) were also frequentlyobserved. Helicoid spores of aero-aquatic fungi
were also observed. The frequency of occurrence
differed from site to site, Clavatospora tentacula
being the most frequent in all sites. Spores typical in the tropics (e.g. Tricladium brunneum,Condylospora) were also frequently observed,
while some of the common fungi in temperatezones were not observed (e.g. Heliscus). Although the decisive conclusion should not bedrawn until the establishment of quantitative assessment of the biodiversity, the mycobiota in thestream of Malaysia were equally or even more diverse in comparison to those of Japan. Dematiaceous spores seemed to be more frequent thanthose in Japan (Miura, 1974).
Although basidiomycetous anamorphs are relatively common in tropics (Nawawi, 1973c), thefungi were not observed in the current survey.
Because filiform to sigmoid spores are lesscharacteristic in their morphology, decisive identification is not easily done. The present survey,
however, included some unidentified spores insigmoid to filiform morphology (Figs. 3e, f, i).
Unidentified spores of filiform shape may be

Survey of Stream Spora of Penang Island and the Malay Peninsula
Table 1.

125Comparisons of the stream spora in three sites.
Site*Name
Anguillospora sp. (Fig. 3c)
Articulospora sp. (Fig. 2j)
Beltrania sp. (Fig. 2h)Camposporium sp. (Fig. 2c)Campylospora chaetocladia Ranzoni
Campylospora sp.(Fig. 2l)
Clavatospora tentacula Sv. Nilsson
Condylospora gigantea Nawawi & Kuthubutheen
Culicidospora aquatica R.H. Petersen
Diplocladiella scalaroides G. Arnaud
Flabellospora multiradiata NawawiHelicomyces sp. (Fig. 3h)
Isthmotricladia gombakiensis Nawawi
Lateriramulosa uni-infulata Matsush.
Lunulospora curvula Ingold
Lunulospora cymbiformis K. Miura
Miladina lecithina (Cooke) Svrček
Nawawia filiformis (Nawawi) Marvanová
Phalangispora constricta Nawawi & J. Webster
Tetraploa aristata Berk. & Broome
Tricladium aciculum Nawawi
Tricladium brunneum Nawawi
Triramulispora sp. (Fig. 2n)
Triramulispora sp. (Fig. 2o)
Trisulcosporium acerinum H.J. Huds. & B. Sutton
unidentified (Fig. 2a)unidentified (Fig. 3e)unidentified (Fig. 3f )unidentified (Fig. 3i)#1#2

#3#4


*Sites: #1, Titi Kerawang Waterfall, Penang Isl.; Site #2, Bukit Gatang; Sites #3 and #4, two streams in Bukit Larut.

those of ostropalean or helotialean ascomycetes.
Cultural studies are essential to further detailed
analysis for these spores.
A number of discomycete teleomorphs havebeen connected along with freshwater hyphomycetes (Marvanová, 1997; Sivichai andJones, 2003). In the present expedition trip, theauthors attempted to collect discomycetes in theplaces adjacent to the streams, but no teleomorphic states have been found.
Substrate, seasonality and water temperature
are known to affect spore occurrence and production in aquatic fungi (Nilson, 1964). In the present observation, one of the samples from Bukit
Larut contained the highest biodiversity, while
the diversity of other samples were not so rich.
The biodiversity would be largely affected by thedensity of the spores in the samples, which may
differ by sampling methods and environmentalfactors. Factors that may affect the biodiversity
such as seasonality and host preference require
repeated investigations.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a Grand-in-Aidfor Scientific Research A (No. 14255004) fromJapan Society for the Promotion of Science(JSPS). The authors express their gratitude to Dr.
Liew Kon Wui, Universiti Sains Malaysia for his
help with collecting samples.

126T. Hosoya et al.

Fig. 2. Representatives of stream spora (mainly tetra-radiating spores). a, unidentified. b, Lateriramulosa uni-infulata. c, Camposporium sp. d, Clavatospora tentacula. e, Tricladium brunneum. f, Flabellospora multiradiata. g, Phalangispora constricta. h, Beltrania sp. i, Culicidospora aquatica. j, Articulospora sp. k, Isthmotricladia gombakiensis. l, Campylospora sp. m, Campylospora chaetocladia. n, Triramulispora sp. o, Triramulispora sp.

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Survey of Stream Spora of Penang Island and the Malay Peninsula

127Fig. 3. Representatives of the stream spora (mainly sigmoid to filiform spores). a, Lunulospora curvula. b,Lunulospora cymbiformis. c, Anguillospora sp. d, Condylospora gigantean. e, unidentified. f, unidentified. g,Anguillospora sp. h, Helicomyces sp. i, unidentified.
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