Tag: ascomycetes
A dynamic online documentation of Italian ascomycetes with hosts and substrates: www.italianmicrofungi.org
Early taxonomic studies of ascomycetous microfungi were conducted based on morphological observations. With the advent and advancement of DNA based molecular studies over the last few decades, species, genera, families and orders of Ascomycota have been subjected to rapid taxonomic changes. In the last eight years, we have introduced many novel fungal taxa with numerous new host and country records of ascomycetous microfungi from Italy. Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes are the major classes that we have investigated. These fungal species were collected from more than 300 host species in terrestrial habitats of different provinces in Italy. The hosts include shrubs, trees and grasses with the substrates differentiated as branches, stems and leaves. For these taxa, identification and classification were confirmed with comprehensive descriptions, colour illustrations and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses. These studies are scattered in different scientific journals. The online documentation at www.italianmicrofungi.org is a database for arranging all the published data together with novel updates of present and upcoming studies. Notes for species, genera and up-to-date records of Italian ascomycetes with accounts on different hosts and substrates are described here. This website provides a user-friendly and easily accessible framework to extract more information.
A new species of Flabellascoma and a new record of Biappendiculispora japonica (Lophiostomataceae, Dothideomycetes) from Yunnan Province, China
During our taxonomic effort to document the woody litter microfungi of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), two collections of lophiostomataceae-like taxa were isolated from terrestrial habitats in China. Flabellascoma lancangense sp. nov. was isolated from dead woody twigs of Castanopsis indica, and a new collection was made for Biappendiculispora japonica from dead woody twigs of Camphora glandulifera. Phylogenetic analysis of combined SSU, LSU, ITS, tef1-α, and rpb2 sequence data was used to confirm the placement of our collections in Lophiostomataceae. Flabellascoma lancangense is characterized by globose to subglobose ascomata, which are immersed under the host substrates, short papillate, crest-like ostiole with a pore-like opening, filled with hyaline periphyses, peridium comprising thick-walled cells of textura angularis to globulosa cells, cellular pseudoparaphyses, cylindrical to cylindric-clavate asci with a truncate pedicel and a minute ocular chamber, hyaline, ellipsoidal 2-celled ascospores with large guttules in each cell. Detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided, with notes discussing allied species in the family.
Taxonomic classification of Praeclarispora herbicola comb. nov. in Leptosphaeriaceae (Pleosporales)
During our ongoing study of ascomycetes in Yunnan Province of China, a saprobic fungus was collected on a dead stem of Bidens pilosa (black-jack) in Yunnan Province, China. Preliminary identification based on the LSU, SSU, and ITS nucleotide BLAST searches demonstrated that the new isolate is related to Praeclarispora artemisiae and Phragmogibbera herbicola. Praeclarispora artemisiae and Ph. herbicola are morphologically resembled in having erumpent to superficial, subglobose, ostiolate ascomata, composed of thick-walled, carbonaceous or coriaceous, scleroplectenchymatous celled peridium, 8-spored, bitunicate, narrowly obovoid to cylindric-clavate asci and fusiform, versicolor, septate, thin- and smooth-walled ascospores. Phylogenetic analyses of the combined LSU, SSU, and ITS sequence dataset revealed that the new isolate shared the same branch length with Ph. herbicola but clustered with Pr. artemisiae in Leptosphaeriaceae. Hence, Ph. herbicola is transferred to Praeclarispora, and the new combination, Praeclarispora herbicola comb. nov. is introduced herein. The new isolate shows to be conspecific with Pr. herbicola based on morphological characteristics and is also supported by phylogenetic evidence. Therefore, our new isolate is identified as Pr. herbicola which is reported on Bidens pilosa for the first time.