Monascus ruber Tiegh., Bull. Soc.

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 : 166

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.295.2.4
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13688483
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F26165-9643-FFCE-A3B9-FEE6FBC3B1DC
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Monascus ruber Tiegh., Bull. Soc.
status

Treatment

7. Monascus ruber Tiegh., Bull. Soc. View in CoL bot. Fr. 31: 226 (1884)

( Plate 1 View PLATE 1 , Fig. 17)

Colonies in CYA25 with fast growth, 25–35 mm diam. in seven days, appressed, velutinous to floccose, with fimbriated margin, initially white, then light brown, progressively darker with cleistothecia maturation, occasionally reddish. Reverse brown to dark brown, smooth. Mycelium abundant, consisting of hyaline, slender, branched, smooth-walled hyphae, 4–5.5 μm diam. Ascomata non-ostiolate, gregarious, superficial, usually globose, occasionally subglobose, flattened horizontally, light brown to amber, 25–45(–57.5) μm diam., each supported by a stalk-like hypha. Ascomatal wall two-layered, prosenchymatous, translucent, composed of an outer layer with often merging hyphae, covering an inner semitransparent vesicle, thick-walled, with light brown to amber cells, major axis 2.5–5 μm, collapsing or not when mounted. Asci 8-spored, globose, strongly evanescent. Ascospores 1-celled, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 5–7.5 × 3.5–4.5 μm. Conidia single or in short chains, globose to pyriform thick-walled, hyaline, smooth, 9.5–15.5 μm diam. or 10–17.5 × 8.5–15 μm.

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco ( UFRPE), Recife, on cattle dung, 15 Mar 2013, R.F. R. Melo ( URM 86638a!, 86638b!, 86638c!, 86638d!).

Habitat: —Recorded on plant material, in rumen contents of herbivores, industrial waste,. It is uncommon on herbivore dung.

Distribution:—Worldwide.

Notes:— Monascus ruber is a common cleistothecial ascomycete, primarily known for its application in food industry, particularly in China and Japan. It differs from M. sanguineus P.F. Cannon, Abdullah & B.A. Abbas (1995: 661) mainly by the soluble pigment production, usually absent, brown when present.