Samsoniella duyunensis W.H. Chen, Y.F. Han & J.D. Liang, 2023

Chen, Wan-Hao, Liang, Jian-Dong, Ren, Xiu-Xiu, Zhao, Jie-Hong & Han, Yan-Feng, 2023, Two new species of Samsoniella (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) from the Mayao River Valley, Guizhou, China, MycoKeys 99, pp. 209-226 : 209

Samsoniella duyunensis W.H. Chen, Y.F. Han & J.D. Liang sp. nov.

Fig. 3

Type.

China, Guizhou, Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Duyun City , Mayao River Valley (26°22'8.3748"N, 107°23'16.96"E). On an ant ( Formicidae ), buried in soil, 4 September 2021, Wanhao Chen, GZAC DY0916 (holotype), ex-type living cultures, DY09161 .

Description.

Synnemata arising from the host, irregularly branched, conidia in abundance at the apex. Colonies on PDA, attaining a diameter of 35-38 mm after 14 days at 25 °C, white, consisting of a basal felt, floccose hyphal overgrowth; reverse yellowish. Hyphae septate, hyaline, pale pink in the middle part, smooth-walled, 0.8-1.4 μm wide. Conidiophores hyaline, smooth-walled, with single phialide or whorls of 2-4 phialides or verticillium-like from hyphae directly, 10.0-21.3 × 1.7-1.9 μm. Phialides cylindrical to ellipsoidal, somewhat inflated base, 5.3-9.1 × 1.3-1.6 μm, tapering to a thin neck. Conidia hyaline, smooth-walled, fusiform to ellipsoidal, 2.1-2.9 × 1.1-1.7 μm, forming divergent and basipetal chains. Sexual state not observed.

Host.

Ant ( Formicidae ).

Etymology.

Referring to its location in Duyun City.

Additional material examined.

China, Guizhou, Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Duyun City , Mayao River Valley (26°22'8.3748"N, 107°23'16.96"E). On an ant ( Formicidae ), buried in soil, 4 September 2021, Wanhao Chen, DY 09162 (living culture). On a pupa ( Lepidoptera ) clinging to fallen leaves, 30 July 2022, Wanhao Chen, GZAC DY0750 (specimen), DY07501 and DY07502 (living culture). On an ant ( Formicidae ) clinging to fallen leaves, 4 September 2021, Wanhao Chen, DY 0906 (specimen) .

Remarks.

Samsoniella duyunensis was easily identified as Samsoniella , based on the BLASTn result in NCBI and the phylogenetic analysis of the combined datasets (ITS, LSU, RPB1, RPB2 and TEF) (Fig. 1 ) and clustered into an independent clade. Comparing with the typical characteristics of the known species and the keys of Samsoniella species ( Wang et al. 2022), S. duyunensis has a close relationship with S. coccinellidicola and S. sinensis by absence of sexual state, presence of synnemata and irregularly branched, moderately grow of colony. However, it is distinguished from S. coccinellidicola (phialides: 6.0-14.1 × 1.0-2.0 μm; conidia: fusiform or oval, 1.8-3.0 × 1.3-2.0 μm; host, adults of Coccinellidae ) by shorter phialides, smaller conidia and its ant host and distinguished from S. sinensis (conidia: spherical, elliptical or fusiform; host: larva of Lepidoptera ) by fusiform to ellipsoidal conidia and its ant host.

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic relationships amongst the new strains and their allies based on multigene dataset (ITS, LSU, RPB 1, RPB 2 and TEF). Statistical support values (≥ 70 % / 0.70) are shown at the nodes for ML bootstrap support / BI posterior probabilities. The new strains or species are in bold type.

Figure 3. Samsoniella duyunensis A infected ant (Formicidae) B, C PDA culture plate showing top (B) and reverse (C) sides of the colony D-J Phialides and conidia. Scale bars: 10 mm (B, C); 10 μm (D-J).