Tettigomyces africanus Thaxter, Memoirs

Rossi, Walter & Leonardi, Marco, 2018, New species and new records of Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota) from Sierra Leone, Phytotaxa 358 (2), pp. 91-116 : 112

Tettigomyces africanus Thaxter, Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 14: 538, 1926.

Known distribution. Described from Kenya on Gryllotalpa africana (Ortoptera, Gryllotalpidae ) and later reported on the same insect from China ( Shen & Ye 2006).

New records from Sierra Leone. Northern Province, near the village of Kondembaia in the Loma Mts. area, 29.XI.1983, W. Rossi , on various parts of the abdomen, both on the ventral and the dorsal sides, and also on the wings of G. africana ; Southern Province, Kangari Hills near Baomahun, 4.XI.1991, W. Rossi , on the ventral side of the abdomen of G. africana ; Southern Province, Gola Rainforest National Park, near Sileti camp, 7.V.2014, C. Belcastro, on the ventral side of the abdomen of G. africana .

Remarks. Tettigomyce africanus is quite similar to T. vulgaris Thaxt. The parasites from Sierra Leone have been identified as T. africanus because of the inner (dorsal) marginal cells of the perithecium larger and more prominent than the outer ones, the conformation of the perithecial tip, and the small but persistent terminal spine of the appendage.