Melanospora damnosa (Sacc.) Lindau, Nat. Pflanzenfam., Teil. I (Leipzig), 1897

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 : 164

5. Melanospora damnosa (Sacc.) Lindau, Nat. Pflanzenfam., Teil. I (Leipzig) 1 (1): 353 (1897)

( Plate 1 , Figs. 13–14)

Ascomata ostiolate, scattered, immersed to superficial, obpyriform, globose to subglobose, tapering slightly towards the neck, light brown to golden, 220–250 × 160–185 μm. Neck conical, 75–100 × 50–60 μm, usually with a mucilaginous mass at the apex composed of mature ascospores. Terminal hairs setose, straight to slightly flexuous, simple, thick-walled, septate, smooth, hyaline to faintly yellowish, 2.5–5 μm in diameter at the broadest part, 60–130 μm long, forming a crown at the neck apex. Lateral hairs sparse, hyphoid, flexuous, simple, thin-walled, hyaline. Peridium pseudoparenchymatous, membranaceous, translucent, composed mostly of polygonal, (textura angularis), thin-walled, light yellow to yellowish brown cells, 12.5–17.5 μm thick, becoming more elongated towards the neck. Asci 8-spored, clavate, with rounded apex and a short stipe, 35.5–40 × 22.5–28 μm, evanescent, observable only in young perithecia. Ascospores 1-celled, rhomboid-ellipsoid to sublimoniform, non-apiculated, smooth, hyaline when young, then dark brown to black, 15–22 × 10–12.5 μm, with two terminal germ pores, early dispersed to form a dark mass at the neck apex.

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Instituto Agronômico de Pernambuco ( IPA), Caruaru, on goat dung, 30 Sep 2011, R. F. R. Melo ( URM 86669!).

Habitat: —Herbivore dung, twigs and plant material.

Distribution: —Africa ( Tunisia), Asia ( Bangladesh), Europe (well distributed), North America ( United States), Oceania ( Australia, New Zealand) and South America ( Argentina). Apparently worldwide.

Notes:— Melanospora damnosa resembles M. brevirostris (Fuckel) Höhnel (1914: 94) , but in additions to its longer necks, they differs by ascospore shape and size: shorter, ellipsoid to limoniform in the latter and longer, rhomboid-ellipsoid in the former.

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.