Neopalmiascoma X. Zhang, K.D. Hyde, Tibpromma & Karunarathna, 2024

Zhang, Xian, Karunarathna, Samantha C., Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Du, Tian-Ye, Elgorban, Abdallah M., Lumyong, Saisamorn, Dai, Dong-Qin & Hyde, Kevin D., 2024, Morphology and phylogenetic analyses reveal Neopalmiascoma gen. nov. (Bambusicolaceae, Pleosporales) on Macadamia integrifolia in Yunnan Province, China, Phytotaxa 633 (3), pp. 230-240 : 235

Neopalmiascoma X. Zhang, K.D. Hyde, Tibpromma & Karunarathna , gen. nov.

Index Fungorum IF901496, Facesoffungi FoF 14800

Etymology: Named after the generic epithet, “neo” refers to the similarity of the new genus to the genus Palmiascoma .

Saprobic on decaying of twigs, stems or branches in terrestrial habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata solitary, semi-immersed, dark brown to black, subglobose to ampulliform, unilocular, ostiolate, papillate. Peridium outer cells merge with the host epidermal cells, composed of brown to dark brown cells of textura angularis, tending to be smaller, brown to dark brown cells of textura angularis, thin-walled towards the outside, and inner cells composed thick-walled, light-brown of textura angularis cells. Hamatheciu branched, dense, cellular pseudoparaphyses, longer than asci. Asci 6–8-spored, cylindric-clavate, fissitunicate, bitunicate, short pedicellate, slightly curved with shallow ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping uni to biseriate, broadly fusiform to ellipsoid, with obtuse ends, 1-septate, constricted at the septum, hyaline to yellowish-brown when immature, brown to dark-brown when mature, slightly wider upper cell, tapering towards and slightly rounded ends, straight or slightly curved, guttulate, with or without appendages or mucilaginous sheath, echinulate, rough-walled. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Type species: Neopalmiascoma macadamiae X. Zhang, K.D. Hyde, Tibpromma & Karunarathna

Notes: The phylogenetic analyses showed that two isolates of Neopalmiascoma formed separated lineage basal to Bambusicolaceae which is sister to Palmiascoma with 100% ML and 1.00 PP statistical support. Palmiascoma is characterized by having solitary, semi-immersed to erumpent ascomata ( Liu et al. 2015) while, Neopalmiascoma has gregarious, scattered to clustered, semi-immersed ascomata. However, Neopalmiascoma shares similar morphology with Palmiascom, and only a few morphological features are distinct. In addition, the basepair differences in LSU of Neopalmiascoma macadamiae (HKUCC 23-0746) to Palmiascoma gregariascomum (MFLUCC 11-0175) are 1.96% (16 bp out of 818 bp). Thus, it is difficult to distinguish them based on morphological traits alone, so we introduce Neopalmiascoma as a new genus within Bambusicolaceae based on both morphology and multigene phylogeny ( Zhang et al. 2012, Hyde et al. 2013, Ariyawansa et al. 2014, Liu et al. 2015).