Laboulbenia dichroma W. Rossi, J.A. Torres et Bernardi, 2015

Rossi, Walter, Torres, Juan A. & Bernardi, Matteo, 2015, New Laboulbeniales parasitic on weevils from the Amazon rainforest, Phytotaxa 231 (2), pp. 187-192 : 188

Laboulbenia dichroma W. Rossi, J.A. Torres et Bernardi sp. nov. Fig. 1B

MycoBank MB 814452

Etymology: —From Greek = bicolored.

Original description: —Perithecium chestnut brown; the rest of the thallus is tinged with very pale brown, gradually darker from below upwards; distal portion of the appendages hyaline. Basal cell relatively small, up to twice as long as maximum width and tapered in the lower portion. Suprabasal cell distinctly longer than the former, with sub-parallel lateral margins, separated from cell III by a short, slightly oblique septum, and from cell VI by a longer and more oblique septum. Cell III relatively small, subtrapezoidal, slightly longer than broad. Cell IV about as broad as cell III and distinctly broader than long. Cell V very small and lens-like. Insertion cell oblique, not joined to the perithecium and positioned at the base of the latter. Basal cell of the outer appendage slightly longer than broad, giving rise to a simple branch exceeding in height the perithecial apex, consisting of gradually longer and slenderer cells. The basal cell of the inner appendage gives rise to two divergent branches similar to the one of the outer appendage, each bearing a single, small antheridium on the upper, inner angle of the second cell of the series. Cell VI longer and more slender than cell III. Perithecium wholly free from the receptacle, regularly elliptical, the tip subconical, the lips hyaline and rounded, of which one is taller and subtended by a small, darker area. Length from foot to the perithecial apex 210–230 μm. Perithecium 33–37 × 90–100 μm. Longest appendage 225 μm.

Type: — ECUADOR. Orellana: P. N. Yasuní, Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini, 220–250 m, by fogging in tropical rain forest, 02 February 2002, Terry Erwin & al., on the elytra of Geraeus sp. ( Conoderinae , Barididae, Madarini ) (FI3910!). Seven mature and 2 immature thalli have been examined.

Comments: —Although lacking peculiar characteristics, Laboulbenia dichroma does not seem closely allied to any described species. It has a free perithecium as L. curculionidicola , which however, among other differences, is a larger species with a relatively much smaller and more inflated perithecium ( Sugiyama & Majewski 1987). The new species might be compared, in the absence of other candidates, with L. dryptae Thaxt. , parasitic on an African ground beetle, which also has the appendages consisting of three branches and a free perithecium distinctly darker than the rest of the thallus, but the latter parasite has a stocky receptacle with a blackish tinge on the ventral side of the same ( Thaxter 1908, plate LIV, fig. 19).

Figures

FIGURE 1.A. Laboulbenia elephantina (from the type slide). B. Laboulbenia dichroma (from the type slide). C. Laboulbenia microcarpa (from the type slide). D. Laboulbenia inopinata from Macrocopturus sp. (from the paratype FI3864). Bars = 50 μm.