Parafuscosporella xishuangbannaensis R. Zhu & H. Zhang 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wang, Lin
name: Dong, Wei
name: Yang, Jun-Xian
name: Zhu, Rong
name: Zhang, Huang
name: Yu, Ze-Fen
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Ascomycota
Sordariomycetes
Fuscosporellales
Fuscosporellaceae
Parafuscosporella
Parafuscosporella xishuangbannaensis

description: Parafuscosporella xishuangbannaensis R. Zhu & H. Zhang, sp. nov. (FIGURES 2 & 3)
Index Fungorum number: IF900242; Facesoffungi number: FoF 14014
Etymology: in reference to Xishuangbanna, from where the holotype was collected.
Holotype: IFRD 9461
Saprobic on decaying wood submerged in freshwater. Sexual morph: undetermined. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies on natural substrata punctiform, granular, gregarious, black, glistening. Mycelium partly immersed, partly superficial, composed of septate, branched, smooth-walled, hyaline hyphae. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, monoblastic, integrated, terminal, hyaline, cylindrical, 2.8– 4.7 × 3.3–4.9 μm (x = 3.6 × 3.8 μm, n = 20). Conidia acrogenous, obovoid to subglobose, brown to dark brown, with a septum near the base, smooth-walled, 18–29 × 14–27 μm (x = 23.8 × 21.5 μm, n = 30); basal cell wedge-shaped, paler than the other cells, 1.5–5 × 3.5–7.5 μm (x = 2.8 × 5 μm, n = 20).
Cultural characteristics: Conidia germinating on PDA within 24 hours. Germ tubes are produced from the basal cell. Colonies on PDA are very slow-growing, reaching 10 mm diameter after 12 weeks at 20–25˚C, pale yellow to yellow from above and below, with sparse mycelium, entire at the edge. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells cylindrical, hyaline to pale brown, 10–32 × 2–5.5 μm (x = 21.5 × 3.5 μm, n = 20). Conidia globose to subglobose, aseptate or with a septum near the base, smooth, hyaline when young, pale brown to brown at maturity, 20–28 × 17–27 μm (x = 23.4 × 21.5 μm, n = 30), sometimes with a wedge-shaped, paler cell at the base, 2.5–8(–21) × 2.5–4.5 μm (x = 5 × 4 μm, n = 30).
Material examined: CHINA. Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna, Manfeilong reservoir, on submerged decaying wood of an unidentified plant, 7 November 2020, R. Zhu, N 94 (IFRD 9461, holotype), ex-living culture IFRDCC 3133.
Notes: The multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of combined LSU, SSU, ITS and rpb2 sequence data show that our strain forms a separate branch in Parafuscosporella and clusters with two strains of P. pyriformis (FIGURE. 1). Morphologically, our isolate is similar to P. pyriformis in having obovoid to subglobose conidia and overlapping conidial size. However, the two taxa can be easily distinguished by the characteristics of the conidiophores. Parafuscosporella pyriformis has numerous, cylindrical or moniliform conidiophores (Yang et al. 2020), while the conidiophores of our new isolate are reduced to conidiogenous cells. Additionally, the conidia of the new isolate forming in culture are bigger than those of P. pyriformis (20–28 × 17–27 μm vs. 8–12 × 7–12 μm). Comparisons of nucleotides show that there are three (0.3%, including 2 gaps) and 20 (3.4%, including 4 gaps) nucleotide differences in LSU and ITS regions respectively, which supports them to be different species as per the guidelines of Jeewon and Hyde (2016). Based on the morphological and molecular differences, we introduce our isolate as a new species in Parafuscosporella, namely P. xishuangbannaensis. Morphologically, P. moniliformis and P. mucosa are similar to P. xishuangbannaensis in their globose to subglobose conidia in culture. However, the shape of conidiogenous cells and conidia on the natural substrates are different. The conidiogenous cells of P. xishuangbannaensis are only cylindrical as per the description above, while those of P. mucosa are globose, subglobose, ellipsoidal or clavate. The conidia of P. xishuangbannaensis are obovoid to subglobose, while those of P. moniliformis are ellipsoidal to broadly obpyriform and those of P. mucosa are obovoid to obpyriform (Yang et al. 2016).
description: Published as part of Wang, Lin, Dong, Wei, Yang, Jun-Xian, Zhu, Rong, Zhang, Huang & Yu, Ze-Fen, 2023, Parafuscosporella xishuangbannaensis sp. nov. (Fuscosporellales, Sordariomycetes) from submerged wood in China, pp. 218-228 in Phytotaxa 587 (3) on pages 221-226, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.587.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7744299