Erioscyphella sasibrevispora Tochihara & Hosoya, 2022

Tochihara, Yukito & Hosoya, Tsuyoshi, 2022, Examination of the generic concept and species boundaries of the genus Erioscyphella (Lachnaceae, Helotiales, Ascomycota) with the proposal of new species and new combinations based on the Japanese materials, MycoKeys 87, pp. 1-52 : 1

Erioscyphella sasibrevispora Tochihara & Hosoya sp. nov.

Figs 15 , 16

Diagnosis.

Characterized by wooly appearance and yellow to orange discs, and distinguished from similar species Lachnum novoguineense var. yunnanicum in having shorter ascospores.

Holotype.

Japan, Hokkaido, Tomakomai, Utonai, 42.705314, 141.7346, ca 10 m, 16 Jun. 2018, on fallen sheaths of Sasa nipponica , Y.Tochihara & T.Hosoya (TNS-F-81401).

GenBank/UNITE no. ex holotype.

LC669470/UDB0779082 (ITS), LC533174 (LSU), LC533269 (mtSSU), LC533217 (RPB2).

Other specimen examined.

Japan, Gunma, Higashiagatsuma, 36.562253, 138.724139, ca 1330 m, 6 Jun. 2017, on fallen sheaths of Sasa veitchii , Y.Tochihara & T.Hosoya (TNS-F-80399, in bad condition).

Etymology.

“sasi” means bamboo [host plants] and “brevispora” means shorter ascospores compared to L. novoguineense var. yunnanicum .

Japanese name.

Sasa -no-youmou-chawantake.

Description.

Apothecia gregarious, superficial, 0.6-1.3 mm in diameter, short-stipitate, up to 0.8 mm high, pure white, externally covered with long white hairs. Disc concave, yellow to pale orange when fresh and dry. Ectal excipulum textura prismatica to t. angularis, 3-16 × 2-10 µm, hyaline, thin-walled; surface smooth. Medullary excipulum textura intricata of hyaline hyphae up to 2 µm wide. Hairs straight, delicate, cylindrical with relatively acute apices, up to 190 × 2-3 µm, hyaline, totally granulate, thin-walled; apical cell a little longer than other cells, lacking any crystals, resinous materials, or apical amorphous materials. Asci (79-)82.5-90(-95) × (6-)6.6-8.1(-9) µm (av. 86 ± 4.0 × 7.4 ± 0.8 µm, n = 15), 8-spored, cylindrical-clavate; lateral parts sometimes swelling irregularly; pore blue in MLZ without 3% KOH pretreatment; croziers with perforation present at the basal septa. Ascospores (26-)27.9-36.1(-39) × (1.5-)1.7-2 µm (av. 32 ± 4.1 × 1.8 ± 0.2 µm, n = 17), Q = (13-)15-19.7(-21) (av. 17.5 ± 2.3, n = 17), long fusiform, usually 3-septate, rarely 0- to 2-septate (only observed in TNS-F-81401 because TNS-F-80399 was immature). Paraphyses straight, lanceolate, 2.5-4 µm wide, densely septate, exceeding the asci up to 15 µm. Note that the description is solely based on the holotype because another examined specimen TNS-F-80399 was in bad condition.

Culture characteristics.

Colony of NBRC 114475/ TNS-F-81401 on PDA wrinkled. Context cottony and partially funiculose, white, turning ocher at the center; almost ocher except for the white margin from the reverse. Sectors and zonation absent. Aerial mycelium developed throughout the colony, concolous, forming mycelium strands. Margin indistinct, flat and immersed into agar. Soluble pigment absent. Asexual morph absent.

Distribution.

Japan (cool-temperate zone, subarctic zone).

Notes.

Erioscyphella sasibrevispora is closely related to L. novoguineensis var. yunnanicum (TNS-F-16442, 16642) (Fig. 1 ) and occurs in the same habitats (that is, bamboo sheaths) but has shorter asci and ascospores. The ascal bases of the two species are very characteristic, in that they have croziers with perforations (Fig. 15G and Fig. 16E ). In Lachnaceae , this type of crozier has only been reported in Lachnellula ( Baral 1984). Additionally, both species exceptionally lack any hair materials in Erioscyphella .

The tropical species E. bambusina and Lachnum albidum var. americanum (Dennis) W.Y. Zhuang also occur on bamboo sheaths. However, compared with the present fungus, the former has smaller ascospores and filiform paraphyses ( Dennis 1954), and the latter has extremely large asci and ascospores ( Dennis 1960). In cool-temperate to subarctic zones, L. asiaticum and Lachnum sasae Raitv. occur on bamboo sheaths ( Otani 1967; Raitviir 1985), but their ascospores are much shorter than those of the present fungus.

The wooly appearance and yellow disc of this species (Fig. 15A ) resemble those of Capitotricha rubi (Bres.) Baral; however, microscopic observations easily distinguish the two species.

Figures

Figure 1. ML best-scored phylogenetic tree based on the concatenated dataset of ITS, LSU, mtSSU, and RPB 2 constructed using RAxML-NG. MLBP / MPBP / BPP are represented on branches in this order. In MLBP / MPBP <50 % or BPP <0.95, a hyphen appears. No evaluation values are shown on branches when MLBP and MPBP <50 % and BPP <0.95. The branch of a clade TNS-F- 17245 + 17249 to its most recent common ancestor is only one-third of the intended length due to space limitation.

Figure 15. Erioscyphella sasibrevispora TNS-F- 81401 (Holotype, A-F, H-J). Lachnum novoguineense var. yunnanicum TNS-F- 16442 (G) A dried apothecia B a pure culture on PDA (NBRC 114475) C ectal excipular cells D ascus E an ascal pore MLZ (+) F ascal base with a perforated crozier G ascal base with a perforated crozier H septated paraphyses I ascospores J vertical section through the apothecium. Mounted in CB / LA (D, F-J), MLZ (E). Scale bars: 1 mm (A); 10 µm (C-J).

Figure 16. Erioscyphella sasibrevispora TNS-F- 81401 (Holotype A-D, F, G). Lachnum novoguineense var. yunnanicum TNS-F- 16642 (E) A apothecium B vertical section of an apothecium C ascospores D asci (with basal structures sometimes with perforation) E ascal base arising from a crozier with perforation F paraphyses G ectal excipular cells H hairs.