Arecophila gaofengensis X. Zhou, K. Habib & Q. R. Li, 2024

Zhou, Xin, Habib, Kamran, Zeng, Wenyu, Ren, Yulin, Shen, Xiangchun, Kang, Jichuan & Li, Qirui, 2024, Addition of three new species of Xylariomycetidae fungi on bamboo from Southern China, MycoKeys 109, pp. 109-129 : 109-129

Arecophila gaofengensis X. Zhou, K. Habib & Q. R. Li sp. nov.

Fig. 4

Etymology.

The specific epithet “ gaofengensis ” refers to the geographical location, Gaofeng Village, where the holotype specimen was collected.

Type.

China • Guizhou Province, Anshun City, Pingba District, Gaofeng Town , 26 ° 33 ' 96.54 " N, 106 ° 54 ' 20.37 " E, altitude: 1250 m, on dead culms of bamboo, 30 October 2023, Yulin Ren, 2023 GFZ 15 ( GMB 4541 , holotype; GMBC 4541 , ex-type); ibid KUN-HKAS 134920 , isotype .

Description.

Saprobic on the surface of dead bamboo culms, forming black round spots. Sexual morph: Ascomata 400–600 µm high, 600–900 µm diam, globose to subglobose, solitary, scattered, sometimes gregarious, immersed beneath blackened clypeus; clypeus well developed, black, coriaceous, ostiole at the center, weakly papillate. Peridium 13–20 μm wide, composed of thick walled, hyaline to brown cells, texture angularis. Paraphyses 2–3 µm (x ̄ = 2.6 µm, n = 20) wide, hyaline, numerous, filamentous, branched, septate. Asci 126–210 × 10–13.5 µm (x ̄ = 165 × 12.5 µm, n = 20), 8 - spored, unitunicate, long-cylindrical, short-pedicellate, with a J +, trapezoidal shape apical ring, bluing in Melzer’s reagent, 2.2–3.4 μm high, 3.6–4.2 μm diam. Ascospores 19–24.5 × 7–9.5 µm (x ̄ = 21.6 × 7.8 µm, n = 30), uniseriate, fusiform, brown, 1 - septate, septate at the center, slightly constricted septum, tapering at the ends, with longitudinal and sulcate striations, covered with a thick mucilaginous sheath measuring 3–8 µm (x ̄ = 6.3 µm, n = 10). Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics.

Ascospores germinating on PDA within 36 hours and germ tubes produced from upper cells. Colonies growing fast on PDA, reaching 2 cm in 1 week at 28 ° C, effuse, velvety to hairy, nearly circular, irregular at the margin, white from above, pale yellowish white from below. Mycelium immersed in the media, composed of branched, septate, smooth-walled, hyaline, hyphae.

Paratype.

China • Guizhou Province, Anshun City, Pingba District, Gaofeng Town , 26 ° 33 ' 95.44 " N, 106 ° 54 ' 30.27 " E, altitude: 1250 m, on dead culms of bamboo, 30 October 2023, Yulin Ren, 2023 GFZ 530 ( GMB 4559 ; paratype; GMBC 4559 , ex-paratype) .

Notes.

In the phylogram (Fig. 1 ), Arecophila gaofengensis formed a sister branch with A. xishuangbannaensis L. S. Han & D. Q. Dai with a low bootstrap values (69 / 0.86 ML / BI, Fig. 1 ). Arecophila gaofengensis differs from A. xishuangbannaensis by its smaller ascospores (19–24.5 × 7–9.5 µm vs. 23–27 × 8.5–9.5 μm) and smaller asci (126–210 × 10–13.5 µm vs. 180–270 × 12–14 μm) ( Han et al. 2024). The analysis of ITS sequences for these two species reveals a sequence length of 471 base pairs, with a 92.8 % similarity, and a 2.1 % gap presence, indicating 437 matching positions. Morphologically, the new taxon is close to A. bambusae , but can be distinguished from A. bambusae by having larger asci (126–210 × 10.3–13.7 µm vs. 132.5–140 × 7.5–8 µm) and wider ascospores (19–24.5 × 7.1–9.5 µm vs. 19–22.5 × 5.5–7 µm) ( Umali et al. 1999). Morphologically, the new species also resembles A. muroiana (I. Hino & Katum.) You Z. Wang et al. However , clypeus is absent in A. muroiana ( Li et al. 2022) , while blackened clypeus was observed in A. gaofengensis . So, here we introduced it as a new species of Arecophila .

Figures

Figure 1. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Amphibambusa aureae, Arecophila gaofengensis and related taxa based on a combined ITS and LSU sequences. Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (ML) greater than 75 % and Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPP) greater than 0.95 are displayed above or below the respective branches (ML / BI). The newly described species are marked red. Holotype and ex-type materials are in bold.

Figure 4. Arecophila gaofengensis (GMB 4541, holotype) A, B ascomata immersed in bamboo host C Cross-section of ascoma D, E longitudinal sections of ascomata F peridium G paraphyses H a J + subapical ring staining by Melzer’s reagent I – K asci with ascospores L – N ascospores surrounded by a gelatinous sheath. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (B – D); 100 μm (E); 10 μm (F – N).