Leuconeurospora pulcherrima (G. Winter) Malloch & Cain, Can. J. Bot.

Melo, Roger Fagner Ribeiro, Maia, Leonor Costa & Miller, Andrew Nicholas, 2017, Coprophilous ascomycetes with passive ascospore liberation from Brazil, Phytotaxa 295 (2), pp. 159-172 : 163

3. Leuconeurospora pulcherrima (G. Winter) Malloch & Cain, Can. J. Bot. 48(10): 1820 (1970)

( Plate 1 , Figs. 7–9)

Ascomata non-ostiolate, scattered, immersed to superficial, globose, black at reflected light, dark red at transmitted light, 160–210 μm diam., glabrous. Peridium cephalothecoid, coriaceous, opaque, composed of large, polygonal plates consisting of flattened, angular (textura angularis), thick-walled, reddish-brown cells, 7.5–22.5 μm wide at the larger axis, separated by well-defined dehiscence lines. Asci 4-spored, globose to slightly clavate, 9–11.5 μm diam., evanescent. Ascospores 1-celled, mainly ellipsoid, but considerably variable in morphology, rhomboid to doliiform, ornamented by conspicuous, anastomosing ridges, forming an incomplete reticulum, hyaline, 6–10 × 3–5 μm, lacking germ pores.

Material examined:— BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco ( UFRPE), Recife, on goat dung, 04 Apr 2012, R. F. R. Melo ( URM 86786!).

Habitat: —Dung of dog, fox, hedgehog, rabbit, rat and squirrel.

Distribution:— Europe ( Denmark, Greece) and North America ( Canada). This is the first record of this species in Brazil.

Notes: — Leuconeurospora pulcherrima can be distinguished from other cleistothecial, hyaline-spored coprophilous fungi by the dark red ascomata with cephalothecoid wall and by the reticulated ornamentation pattern on the ascospores. Numerous obovoid to pyriform chlamydospores were observed in this material.

Figures

PLATE 1. Coprophilous ascomycetes with passive ascospore liberation recorded in Brazil. Corynascus sepedonium 1. Ascoma, 2. peridium, 3. ascospores and 4. conidium. Kernia nitida 5. Ascoma on dung and 6. hair tip. Leuconeurospora pulcherrima 7. Ascoma, 8. peridium and 9. ascospores. Lophotrichus bartlettii 10. Ascoma on dung, 11. mounted and 12. asci. Melanospora damnosa 13. Ascoma on dung and 14. mounted. M. zamiae 15. Ascoma in mounting and 16. ascospores. Monascus ruber 17. Ascoma in mounting. Mycoarachis inversa 18. Ascoma on incubation paper and 19. mounted, 20. asci and 21. ascospores. Pseudoallescheria boydii 22. Ascoma in mounting, 23. ascus and 24. mature ascospores. Thielavia terrestris 25. Ascomata on dung. 26. mature ascospores. Tripterosporella pakistani 27. Ascoma in mounting, 28. ascus and 29. mature ascospore. Zopfiella erostrata 30. Cleistothecium in mounting. Z. longicaudata 31. Cleistothecium in mounting. Scale bars: 1, 6, 9, 16, 17=10 μm. 2, 21= 2.5 μm. 3, 4, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26= 5 μm. 5=200 μm. 7, 11, 14=50 μm. 8, 12, 13= 20 μm. 15, 18=100 μm. 19=25 μm. 10, 25= 300 μm. Figure: R.F.R. Melo.