Neolinocarpon phayaoense Senwanna & K.D. Hyde, 2018

Senwanna, Chanokned, Phookamsak, Rungtiwa, Bahkali, Ali H., Elgorban, Abdallah M., Cheewangkoon, Ratchadawan & Hyde, Kevin D., 2018, Neolinocarpon phayaoense sp. nov. (Linocarpaceae) from Thailand, Phytotaxa 362 (1), pp. 77-86 : 79-82

Neolinocarpon phayaoense Senwanna & K.D. Hyde , sp. nov. ( Fig. 2 )

Index Fungorum number: IF554038, Facesoffungi number: FoF 03882

Etymology:—The epithet “ phayaoense ” refers to Phayao Province in Thailand where the fungus was found.

Holotype:— MFLU17 - 1980

Saprobic on branches of Hevea brasiliensis . Sexual morph: Ascostromata 250–550 μm diam., 120–300 μm high,

solitary to gregarious, with 1–3 locules, immersed to semi-immersed, becoming raised to erumpent through the host tissue, globose to subglobose, dark brown to black, with a central, papillate, blackened, shiny ostiole. Ostiolar canal

60–120 μm wide, 105–265 μm high, central, not prominent, cylindrical, straight, black, periphysate. Peridium 5–50

μm wide, outer cells merging with the host epidermal cells, composed of dark brown to black cells of textura angularis.

Hamathecium 3–7 μm wide, comprising dense, hyaline, septate, unbranched, filamentous paraphyses, tapering towards the apex. Asci (108–)120–165(–180) × (8–)10–14(–17) μm (x = 143 × 12 μm, n = 15), 8-spored, unitunicate, with a refractive J-, wedge-shaped, subapical ring (2–3 μm × 1–2 μm), cylindrical, long pedicellate, thin-walled. Ascospores (77–)83–92 × (2–)4–5 μm (x = 85 × 4 μm, n = 20), fasciculate, elongate subcylindric-clavate, hyaline to pale brown,

aseptate, mostly curved, containing refringent septum-like band, tapering towards the base and with a narrow rounded apex, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics:—Ascospores germinating on MEA within 24 hours and germtube produced from one or both sides or middle of the ascospores. Colonies on MEA reaching 2–3 cm diam. after 2 weeks at 25–30°C, colonies circular, medium dense, surface smooth with edge entire, velvety to woolly, colony from above white; from below: white at the margin, yellowish to light brown in the center; not producing pigmentation in agar.

Material examined:— THAILAND, Phayao Province, Mae Ka Subdistrict, Mueang District, on branch of Hevea brasiliensis ( Euphorbiaceae ), 1 November 2016, C. Senwanna, RBCR014 (MFLU 17-1980, holotype!), ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 17-0074! living culture MFLUCC 17-0073!

Addition GenBank numbers:—SSU = MG581936, MFLUCC 17-0073a; MG581937, MFLUCC 17-0073b; MG581938, MFLUCC 17-0074; TEF 1-α = MG739512, MFLUCC 17-0073a; MG739513, MFLUCC 17-0073b; MG739514, MFLUCC 17-0074

Notes:— Neolinocarpon phayaoense is similar to other species in the morphological characters of the immerse ascomata with an ostiole, filiform ascospores. However, it differs from Neolinocarpon species in its size of ascomata, asci and ascospores, ascomata shape and lacking mucilaginous appendages in the ascospores ( Table 2). Neolinocarpon phayaoense differs from N. australiense , N. calami , N. enshiensis , N. eutypoides and N. globosicarpum as it lacks a mucilaginous sheath at the apices of the ascospores.Ascospores of Neolinocarpon phayaoense have similar dimension to N. attaleae [(52.5–)57.5–93(–105) × 3–4(–5) μm] and N. inconspicuum [76–98 × 2–3 μm], but differs in size of ascomata [(350–880 × 220–650 μm) and (200–255 × 365–410 μm)] and asci [(137.5–227.5 × 7.5–14(–15) μm) and (105–156 × 7.5–12 μm)] ( Table 2). In addition, N. phayaoense was isolated from different host family ( Euphorbiaceae ) with all Neolinocarpon species. The phylogenetic analysis indicates that N. phayaoense grouped together with N. rachidis and N. arengae ( Fig. 1 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogram of RAxML analysis based on a combined LSU and ITS sequence data. Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (ML, left) greater than 60% and Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP, right) equal to or greater than 0.95 are indicated at the nodes. The tree is rooted to Gelasinospora tetrasperma (CBS 178.33) and Sordaria fumicola (CBS 508.50). All sequences from ex-type strains are in bold. The newly generated sequences are in blue.

FIGURE 2. Neolinocarpon phayaoense (MFLU 17-1980, holotype!). a Habit of ascostromata on host substrate.b Section through ascoma. c Paraphyses. d Ostiole with periphyses. e Peridium. f, g Germinated ascospores. h, i Culture characteristic on MEA after 21 days (h = colony from above, i = colony from below). j, m Asci (j, l = mouthed in water; m = mouthed in Melzer’s reagent). n Ascospores (mouthed in water). Scale bar: a, b = 200 μm, d, j, n = 50 μm, c, e, g = 20 μm.