Pilaira australis Urquhart, Coulon & Idnurm 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Urquhart, Andrew S.
name: Coulon, Pauline M. L.
name: Idnurm, Alexander
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Zygomycota
Mucoromycetes
Mucorales
Mucoraceae
Pilaira
Pilaira australis

description: Pilaira australis Urquhart, Coulon & Idnurm, sp. nov. (Figure 2)
MycoBank number: 820454
Holotype: Consists of a dried specimen of mycelia, sporangia and sporangiospores from an axenic in vitro culture preserved on filter paper, deposited in the National Herbarium of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (MEL 2408410)
COLONIES with radial growth rates on PDA of 28.8 mm after 5 days at 22°C and 29.5 mm at 28°C, no germination at 37°C, light-yellow. SPORANGIOPHORES unbranched, collapsing once reaching a height of 3 to 4 cm, length to 6 cm (typically ~ 4 cm) in an inverted culture after 5 days on PDA, equal in width throughout except for slight constriction at the point of attachment to the columellae in some instances, terminating in a sporangium, desiccated and twisted at sporangium maturity. SPORANGIA oblate hemispheroid, developing sporangia initially yellow then dark brown to almost black at maturity, outer surface covered in spikes. COLUMELLAE initially visible at the base of the sporangium but in mature sporangium the convex lower surface of the sporangium collapses inwards to form a concave circular depression with point of attachment to the sporangiophore in the centre. SPORANGIOSPORES elongated, average length 9.69 μm (90% of spores between 7.5 μm and 12.0 μm) average width 5.27 μm (90% of spores between 3.7 μm and 6.6 μm), not ornamented.
Etymology: australis. Referring to the isolation of a species of Pilaira from the southern hemisphere.
Habitat: Emu faeces
Distribution: Western Victoria, Australia
Carbon utilisation: Capable of assimilation of sole carbon sources L-arabinose (+/–), D-galactose, D-glucose, D-fructose, D-mannose, N-acetyl-glucosamine, amygdalin, arbutin, esculin, salicin, D-cellobiose, D-maltose, Dmelibiose, D-melezitose (+/–), D-raffinose (+/–), amidon, glycogen, gentiobiose. Did not utilised as a sole carbon source glycerol, erythritol, D-arabinose, D-ribose, L- xylose, D-adonitol, methyl β- D-xylopyranoside, L-sorbose, L-rhamnose, dulcitol, inositol, D-mannitol, D-sorbitol, methyl α- D-mannopyranoside, D-lactose, D-saccharose, Dtrehalose, inulin, xylitol, D-turanose, D-lyxose, D-tagatose, D-fucose, L-fucose, D-arabitol, potassium gluconate, potassium 2-keto-gluconate, potassium 5-keto-gluconate.
Ex-type cultures: Deposited at the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Netherlands (CBS 142444); Agricultural Research Service Culture Collection of the United States Department of Agriculture, USA (NRRL 66625); and Jena Microbial Resource Collection, Hans Kröll Institute, Germany (JMRC:SF:12470).
description: Published as part of Urquhart, Andrew S., Coulon, Pauline M. L. & Idnurm, Alexander, 2017, Pilaira australis sp. nov. (Mucorales, Mucoromycota) isolated from emu faeces in Australia, pp. 277-283 in Phytotaxa 329 (3) on pages 279-281, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.329.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/13721964