Camptomyces africanus W. Rossi & M. Leonardi, 2018

Rossi, Walter & Leonardi, Marco, 2018, New species and new records of Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota) from Sierra Leone, Phytotaxa 358 (2), pp. 91-116 : 94

Camptomyces africanus W. Rossi & M. Leonardi sp. nov. ( Figure 1a )

MycoBank MB 826830

Etymology:—From Africa, because the new species is the first in the genus Camptomyces recorded in this continent.

Original description:—Basal cell of the receptacle (cell I) grayish brown, darker in the lower portion, elongate, evenly tapering to the foot. Suprabasal cell (cell II) separated from the basal by a slight constriction, its outline irregularly pentagonal, distinctly broader than long, colored grayish brown, darker in the lower third. Stalk-cell of the appendage (cell III) quadrangular, slightly broader than long, suffused with grayish brown. Basal cell of the antheridium flattened; compound antheridium smoky gray in fully mature thalli, broadly conical, with slightly asymmetrical and convex margins. Stalk-cell of the perithecium (cell VI) hyaline, small, quadrangular, broader than long. Cell VII hyaline, unusually large, slightly curved, enlarged distally. Perithecium light grayish brown, somewhat darker on the lower, inner portion, almost thrice longer than broad, distinctly asymmetrical, with the venter crescent-like, abruptly tapering to a subcylindrical, slightly sigmoid tip and ending in a flattened apex. Length from foot to tip of perithecium 205–215 μm; length from foot to tip of antheridium 105–115 μm; perithecium, including basal cells 135–140 × 50–52 μm; compound antheridium 32–35 μm; ascospores about 32 μm.

Type: — SIERRA LEONE, Southern Province, Gola Rainforest National Park near Sileti camp, 24–26.XI.2015, W. Rossi , on Astenus sp. ( Staphylinidae , Paederinae ) (FI4057).

Comments: —The description is based on three mature and three immature thalli found on the metasternum of the host insect.

Camptomyces africanus is quite different from the other eight species in the same genus described thus far especially for the relatively small cell VI and the shape of the perithecium ( Thaxter 1926). The most similar among the previously described species is apparently C. europaeus , which however has a symmetrically inflated venter tapering to the tip very gradually, a stockier and darker cell I, a flattened cell II, cell III bulging outwards, and a much larger cell VI ( Rossi & Cesari Rossi 1980).

Figures

FIGURE 1.a: Camptomycesafricanus. b:Corethromyces golaensis. c: Corethromycessp.d:maturethallus ofDiaphoromyces minutissimus from the type slide. e: immature thallus of D. minutissimus from the type slide. f: paired male (left) and female (right) thalli of Laboulbenia buccalis from the paratype slide WR4078. Scale bars = 50 μm.