Zopfiella longicaudata (Cain)Arx, Proc.K. Ned.Akad. Wet., Ser.C, Biol. Med. Sci.

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 : 168

13. Zopfiella longicaudata (Cain)Arx, Proc.K. Ned.Akad. Wet., Ser.C, Biol. Med. Sci. 76(3): 291 (1972)

( Plate 1 , Fig. 31)

Ascomata non-ostiolate, scattered to gregarious, immersed to superficial, globose, metallic black in stereomicroscopy, dark brown to black in mounting, 300–360 μm diam. Hairs hyphoid, simple, thin-walled, septate, smooth, flexuous. Peridium pseudoparenchymatous, membranaceous, opaque, composed angular (textura angularis), dark red to dark brown, thick-walled cells. Asci 8-spored, clavate, 25–35 × 10–15 μm, evanescent, irregularly biseriate, only observable in young cleistothecia. Ascospores 1-celled, lageniform to clavate and hyaline when young, smooth, becoming swollen at the apical part to forma transversal septum delimiting a head and pedicel. Head cell ellipsoid to lageniform, usually symmetrical, with umbonate apex and truncated base, smooth, light brown to chestnut brown, 7.5–12.5 × 6–8.5 μm, guttulate, with a subapical germ pore. Pedicel cylindrical, thin-walled, occasionally collapsing, with rounded base, 6–15 × 2–5 μm. Apical caudae absent. Basal caudae absent.

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco ( UFRPE), Recife, on horse dung, 09 Nov 2012, R. F. R. Melo ( URM 86759a!, 86759b!).

Habitat: —Soil and dung of many herbivores.

Distribution: —Worldwide.

Notes:— Zopfiella longicaudata has similar morphological features as Z. marina Furuya & Udagawa (1975: 249) , which can be distinguished by its smaller ascospores. Characteristics features are the non-ostiolate ascomata, usually glabrous, with clavate asci bearing ascospores composed of an ellipsoid to landform head cell and a long cylindrical pedicel, up to 15 μm long. The material from Pernambuco presented ascospores with shorter pedicels than the ones described by Guarro et al. (1991). However, considering the other characters, this difference did not justify the proposition of a new species or variety.

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.