Scutellospora deformata A. Guillen, F. J. Serrano-Tamay, J. B. Peris & Arrillaga, I. 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Guillén, Alberto
name: Serrano-Tamay, Fernando Javier
name: Peris, Juan Bautista
name: Arrillaga, Isabel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Glomeromycota
Glomeromycetes
Diversisporales
Gigasporaceae
Scutellospora
Scutellospora deformata

description: Scutellospora deformata A. Guillén, F.J. Serrano-Tamay, J.B. Peris & Arrillaga, I., sp. nov. (Fig. 4)
MycoBank:—MB839727
Diagnosis:—Differs from other Scutellospora spp. mainly in the phenotypic characters related with outer, middle and inner wall as well as in the nucleotide composition of sequence of the LSU and SSU-ITS1- 5.8S nrDNA region.
Type:— SPAIN. Valencia: Sueca (El Perelló), in rhizosphere of E. farctus in habitat 2120, 39°17’11´´N; 0°16´49´´W, elev., 4m 15 Aug 2015, A. Guillén (holotype VAL_Myco 1635!, isotypes VAL_Myco 1636–37!).
Description:— Spores originate at the top or side of a bulbous sporogenous cell. Spores (Fig. 4a) pastel yellow (rarely is it possible to observe white spores), irregular, 129.4 × 276.6–182.7 × 413.7 μm width × length, rarely globose or subglobose. Subcellular structure of spores (Fig. 4b–i) consists of an outer, middle and inner wall. Outer wall (Fig. 4b–d, f–h) composed of three layers. Layer 1 (OWL1; Fig. 4b–c) semi-permanent, smooth, hyaline to light yellow, 0.8–1.7 μm thick. Layer 2 (OWL2; Fig. 4b–c) laminate, smooth, dark yellow, 3.5–14.0 μm thick. Layer 3 (OWL3; Fig. 4b–c) flexible, smooth, concolorous with OWL2 or slightly lighter in color, and often difficult to observe as it is closely adherent to OWL2, 0.6–1.6 μm thick. Middle wall (MWL1-2; Fig. 4b–c, f–h) composed of two hyaline layers, flexible, MWL1: 0.4–0.8 μm thick;MWL2: 0.4–0.9 μm thick. Inner wall (IWL1-2; Fig. 4b–c, d, f–h) composed of two hyaline layers, flexible, IWL1: 0.5–1.4 μm thick; and IWL2: 0.5–1.6 μm thick. In Melzer´s reagent, OWL2 and inner wall stain red. OWL2 loses the red stain over time (at least 6 years after mounting) (Fig. 4c, f–g). Germination shield (Fig. 4h–i) hyaline to pastel yellow, violin shaped, 24.9 × 117.9–25.4 × 146.8 μm wide × long, simple or composed, slightly incised border although with large folds. Often germ pores (1–5) at the shield periphery. Sporogenous cell (Fig. 4a, d–e) formed terminally on a septate hypha continuous with a mycorrhizal extraradical hypha, pastel yellow, bulbous, 36.7 × 42.4–83.2 × 79.2 μm wide × long, with or without ramification. Wall of sporogenous cell (Fig. 4e) composed of three layers continuous with outer wall spore, 1.4–4.0 μm thick at the spore base. Outer wall layer 1 hyaline, smooth. Quite difficult to see. Outer wall layers 2 and 3 pastel yellow to bright yellow. Auxiliary cells not observed.
Mycorrhizal associations
In the field, S. deformata was found in the rhizosphere of E. farctus, A. arenaria, O. maritimus and E. spinosa in Mediterranean sand dunes from Spain.
No single-species culture was obtained.
Etymology:—Latin, deformata, refering to the characteristic irregular shape of spores.
Distribution and habitat:—Spores of S. deformata were found on 6 sites along Mediterranean sand dunes: La Garrofera (39°21´26´´N; 0°18´55´´W)El Perelló (39°17’11´´N; 0°16´49´´W), Les Palmeres(39°15´42´´N; 0°15´55´´W) El Dosser (39°11´26´´N; 0°13´25´´W), Sant Antoni (39°09´14´´N; 0°14´25´´W), and Burguera (38°56´00´´N; 0°05´50´´W) during 2014–2016. Burguera and El Perelló were the sites where the frequency of spores of S. deformata was highest, while the other sites had significantly lower frequency (Guillén et al. 2019). On the other hand, mobile dunes had a higher frequency of spores of S. deformata than embryonic dunes (Guillén et al. 2019). In field samples it is possible to find S. deformata alone (e.g., El Perelló) or with undescribed Gigasporaceae, and other AMF species such as Diversispora valentina Guillén et al. 2020, D. aurantia (Błaszk., Blanke, Renker & Buscot) C. Walker & A. Schüssler, Corymbiglomus corymbiforme Błaszk. & Chwat (2012: 274), Glomus ibericum (2020: 822), Septoglomus mediterraneum and Funneliformis pilosus (2020: 825) (Guillén et al. 2019, 2020a, b).
description: Published as part of Guillén, Alberto, Serrano-Tamay, Fernando Javier, Peris, Juan Bautista & Arrillaga, Isabel, 2021, Scutellospora deformata (Scutellosporaceae), a new species of Gigasporales from the Mediterranean sand dunes of Spain, pp. 67-78 in Phytotaxa 502 (1) on pages 72-73, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.502.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5424866