Lophotrichus bartlettii (Massee & E.S. Salmon) Malloch & Cain, Can. J. Bot.

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 : 163-164

4. Lophotrichus bartlettii (Massee & E.S. Salmon) Malloch & Cain, Can. J. Bot. 49(6): 866 (1971)

( Plate 1 , Figs. 10–12)

Ascomata ostiolate, scattered to gregarious, immersed to superficial, globose, dark grey to black, 290–315 μm diam. Neck papillate, inconspicuous, 30–40 μm diam. Peridium pseudoparenchymatous, membranaceous, opaque, with thick-walled (textura angularis) brown cells. Neck hairs simple, thick-walled, septate, smooth, dark brown to black, 3.5–4.5 μm thick at the broadest part, narrowing towards the apex, 1.25–1.35 mm long, arranged in a single tuft. Lateral hairs hyphoid, simple, thin-walled, hyaline, septate, 135–147.5 μm long, 2–3 μm diam. at the broadest part, narrowing towards the apex. Asci 8-spored, clavate to subglobose, with a short stipe, 20–35 × 9.5–15 μm, evanescent. Ascospores 1-celled, sublimoniform, non-apiculated, smooth, hyaline when young, then golden to pale brown, copper colored “en masse”, 6.5–8 × 5–6 μm, with two terminal germ pores, early dispersed to form a cirrhus.

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Instituto Agronômico de Pernambuco ( IPA), Caruaru , on goat dung, 03 Jan 2012, R. F. R. Melo ( URM8668 !), 08 May 2013 ( URM86683 !) ; Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco ( UFRPE), Recife , on goat dung, 05 May 2012, R. F. R. Melo ( URM86684 !) .

Habitat: —On plant material and dung of many herbivores.

Distribution: —Africa ( Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria), Asia ( India, Japan), Europe ( Spain), North America ( United States of America), Oceania ( Australia) and South America ( Brazil, Venezuela). Possibly worldwide.

Notes:— Lophotrichus bartlettii , although underrepresented in literature, has been frequently recorded on herbivore dung in Brazil. It was first described by Ames (1961) from a pure culture sent by T. E. Brooks, isolated from rat dung in Kansas, USA. It can be easily identified among representatives of the genus by the presence of short-necked perithecia bearing a tuft of unbranched terminal hairs.

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.