Asterina myrtacearum Bhise & Patil, 2014

Bhise, M. R., Patil, C. R. & Salunkhe, C. B., 2014, Two new species of asterinaceous fungi from Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India, Phytotaxa 184 (5), pp. 283-289 : 284-286

1. Asterina myrtacearum Bhise & Patil , sp. nov.

Fig. 1

MycoBank MB 809993

Type: INDIA. Maharashtra: Mahabaleshwar, Renoshi forest , on living leaves of Syzygium caryophyllatum , 17°47’43.10”N, 73°40’29.50”E, elev. 676m, 13 March 2014, Bhise M. R., HCIO 51664 (holotype) .

Colonies amphigenous, mostly epiphyllous, circular to forming mat on entire leaf surface, dense, confluent, dark black with many thyriothecia, up to 9 mm in diameter. Hyphae dark brown, flexuous to crooked, branching alternate at acute to wide angles, closely reticulate; cells 13–34 × 5–6 μm. Appressoria alternate to unilateral, closely arranged, unicellular, globose to oblong, straight to curved, margin entire, 9–14 × 7–11 μm. Thyriothecia scattered, globose to orbicular, up to 266 μm in diameter, stellately dehisced at the center, margin crenate to fimbriate with fringed hyphae. Asci numerous, obovate to oval, octosporous, 46–69 × 26–32 μm. Ascospores oblong, conglobate, olivaceous brown, uniseptate, constricted at the septum, globose to tapering at end, 35–38 × 15–17 μm, wall smooth.

Habitat/Distribution: Inhabiting living leaves of Syzygium caryophyllatum and S. cumini , along the streams and slopes in Renoshi forest, Old Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India.

Etymology: The specific epithet is based on the host family ( Myrtaceae ).

Other material examined: INDIA. Maharashtra: Old Mahabaleshwar , on living leaves of Syzygium cumini , 17°57’50.44”N, 73°39’12.47”E, elev. 1339m, 18 October 2013, Bhise M. R., MHB 0313 (a) .

Notes: About 9 species of Asterina have been described on Syzygium from the world ( Hosagoudar and Abraham 2000, Far and Rossman 2014, Patil et. al. 2014). The present species was found in association with Asterina jambolanae Kar & Maity (1970:438) , but differs in having unicellular appressoria instead of the bicellular ones. Asterina myrtacearum is similar to Asterina gopalakrishnanii Nair & Kaul (1987:1071) , A. lanceolatae Patil, Bhise & Patil (2014:81) and A. claviflori Kar & Maity (1970:441) known on Syzygium spp. in having unicellular appressoria, however, it differs in having dense epiphyllous colonies with distinctly flexuous to crooked mycelium; larger size of appressoria, thyriothecia and ascospores; as well as distinctly smooth walled ascospores in contrast to spiny and verrucose walled in A. gopalakrishnanii and A. claviflori . Comparisons between the new species and its morphologically similar species are shown in Table 1.

Sr. Morpho- Asterina claviflori Asterina Asterina lanceolatae Asterina myrtacearum

No. taxonomic gopalakrishnanii sp.nov.

characters

1. Host Plant Syzygium mundagam , S. S. cumini S. lanceolatum S. caryo .phyllatum jambolana, S. cumini , S.

zeylanicum

2. Colonies Epiphyllous, dense, up to Amphigenous Amphigenous, up to 10 Amphigenous, mostly

2 mm in diam. mm diam. epiphyllous, dense, up to 9 mm diam.

3. Hyphae Flexuous, cells 25–32 × Substraight, cells 20–25 Substraight to undulate, Flexuous to crooked,

4–8 μm × 5–7 μm 10–28 × 3–5 µm cells 13–34 × 5–6 µm

4. Appressoria Ovate, oblong, Hemispherical, Conoid, 5–10 µm broad Globose to oblong 9–14 cylindrical, 9–18× 6–8 5–7 μm broad × 7–11 µm.

μm long

5. Thyriothecia Up to 250 μm diam. Up to 240 μm diam. Up to 240 µm diam. Upto 266µm diam.

6. Asci 30–35 μm in diam. 50–65 × 25–50 μm 35–53 × 25–43 µm 46–69 × 26–32 μm 7. Ascospores Wall smooth to Wall spiny, two dark Wall smooth, Wall smooth, verrucose, 14–18 × brown bands in the 20–25 × 11–13 µm 35–38 × 15–17 μm 11–13 μm middle of each cell, 30–45 × 12–16 μm

Figures

FIGURE 1. Asterina myrtacearum (holotype). A. Infected leaves; B. Mycelial colony with thyriothecia; C, F. Appressoriate mycelium; G. Part of thyriothecium; D, H. Ascus; E, I. Ascospores.