Neostagonosporella C.L. Yang, X.L. Xu & K.D. Hyde

Yang, Chun-Lin, Xu, Xiu-Lan, Wanasinghe, Dhanushka N., Jeewon, Rajesh, Phookamsak, Rungtiwa, Liu, Ying-Gao, Liu, Li-Juan & Hyde, Kevin D., 2019, Neostagonosporellasichuanensis gen. et sp. nov. (Phaeosphaeriaceae, Pleosporales) on Phyllostachysheteroclada (Poaceae) from Sichuan Province, China, MycoKeys 46, pp. 119-150 : 124-125

Neostagonosporella C.L. Yang, X.L. Xu & K.D. Hyde gen. nov.

Type species.

Neostagonosporella sichuanensis C.L. Yang, X.L. Xu & K.D. Hyde

Etymology.

Name reflects the morphological similarity to the genus Stagonospora.

Description.

Parasitic on living to nearly dead stems and branches of bamboo. Sexual morph: Ascostromata coriaceous, visible as raised to superficial on host, gregarious, multi-loculate, ellipsoidal, globose to subglobose or irregular in shape, dark brown to black, glabrous. Locules globose to subglobose, with a centrally located ostiole, lacking periphyses. Peridium multi-layered, of brown to dark brown, pseudoparenchymatous cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising trabeculate, anastomosed pseudoparaphyses. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to cylindric-clavate, short pedicellate, apically rounded with an ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping bi-seriate, hyaline, cylindrical to fusiform, septate, smooth-walled, surrounded by a distinct mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiostromata pycindial, coriaceous, superficial, dark brown to black, fusiform to long fusiform or rhomboid, multi-loculate, solitary, glabrous. Pycnidia globose to subglobose, ostiolate. Pycnidial wall comprising multi-layered, of dark brown to black, pseudoparenchymatous cells of textura angularis. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells ampulliform to subcylindrical, smooth, hyaline, enteroblastic, phialidic, arising from inner layer of pycnidial wall. Macroconidia hyaline, subcylindrical to cylindrical, septate, nearly equidistant between septa, smooth-walled, sometimes surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath when immature. Microconidia hyaline, varied in shape, aseptate, smooth-walled, with small guttulate.

Notes.

Stagonospora resembles Neostagonosporella in asexual status, but Stagonospora differs in having generally uni-loculate conidiomata, a thick-walled pycnidial wall, doliiform, holoblastic conidiogenous cells with several percurrent proliferations at the apex and mostly smooth to verruculose conidia ( Quaedvlieg et al. 2013, Hyde et al. 2016). Phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated LSU, SSU, ITS and TEF 1-α sequence data (Fig. 1) show that Neostagonosporella is closely related to Setophoma and Edenia within Phaeosphaeriaceae . There are some significant differences in morphology between these genera and these are summarised in Table 2. Six species are currently accepted in Setophoma and two species in Edenia and both of them occur on different grasses but only our new collections are parasitic on bamboo. Comparison of DNA sequence data across four gene regions reveals base pair differences as shown in Table 3. Phylogenetic analyses also clearly differentiate these taxa (Fig. 1). It is the first time that species with massarineae -like morphology occurring on bamboo, were found in the Phaeosphaeriaceae . Based on molecular phylogeny, the new genus is introduced in Phaeosphaeriaceae to accommodate a massarineae -like taxon.