Catenularia cupulifera (Berk. & Broome) Reblova & A.N. Mill., 2021

Reblova, Martina, Nekvindova, Jana & Miller, Andrew N., 2021, Phylogeny and taxonomy of Catenularia and similar fungi with catenate conidia, MycoKeys 81, pp. 1-44 : 1

Catenularia cupulifera (Berk. & Broome) Reblova & A.N. Mill. comb. nov. Fig. 5

Sphaeria cupulifera Basionym. Sphaeria cupulifera Berk. & Broome, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., Ser. 4, 7: 435. 1871.

Lasiosphaeria cupulifera Synonyms. Lasiosphaeria cupulifera (Berk. & Broome) Cooke & Plowr., Grevillea 7(43): 85. 1879.

Chaetosphaeria cupulifera (Berk. & Broome) Sacc., Syll. fung. 2: 94. 1883.

Psilonia cuneiformis Richon, Bull. Soc. Sci. Vitry-le-Franç. 8: 219. 1877.

Monotospora cuneiformis (Richon) Sacc., Syll. fung. 4: 300. 1886.

Psiloniella cuneiformis (Richon) Costantin, Mucéd. Simpl.: 86. 1888.

Catenularia cuneiformis (Richon) E.W. Mason, Mycol. Pap. 5: 121. 1941.

Catenularia simplex Grove, Syll. fung. 4: 303. 1886.

Psilonia simplex (Grove) Costantin, Mucéd. Simpl.: 86. 1888.

Psilonia simplex Synonymy adopted from Mason (1971) and Booth (1958).

Description.

Colonies on natural substrate effuse, hairy or tufted, dark brown to black, mycelium partly immersed, partly superficial, brown; colonies composed of conidiophores, capitate hyphae and sometimes ascomata. Anamorph. Conidiophores 100-350(-530) × 6-7.5(-8) μm, 8.5-10.5 wide above the base, macronematous, solitary or in tufts, with dark brown stromatic hyphal cells around the bases, erect, straight or flexuous, unbranched, brown to dark brown, thick-walled, slightly paler towards the apex. Capitate hyphae 110-160 × 5.5-6 μm, 6.5-7 μm wide above the base, scattered among the conidiophores, erect, straight, brown to dark brown, paler towards the apex, apical cell sterile, thin-walled, subhyaline, slightly swollen, ca. 7 μm wide, broadly rounded with a hyaline gelatinous cap that disappears with age. Conidiogenous cells 40-59 × 5.5-6.5 μm, not tapering, terminal, integrated, monophialidic, extending percurrently, cylindrical, brown, producing conidia successively; collarettes 9.5-12.5 μm wide and 10-12.5 μm deep, funnel-shaped, brown, slightly roughened, with an irregularly frayed margin. Conidia (9-)10.5-13.5 μm long, 7-9.5 μm wide at the apical end, 3.5-4.5 μm wide at the basal hilum (mean ± SD = 11.8 ± 0.7 × 8.0 ± 0.6 μm × 4.0 ± 0.3 μm), cuneiform in side view, with (3-)4(-5) blunt corners when viewed from above, flattened to broadly rounded at the apex, truncate at the base, aseptate, fulvous, brown to dark brown, thick-walled, smooth; formed singly, adhered in basipetal chains.

Teleomorph.

Ascomata 150-220 μm diam, 200-250 μm high, superficial with a base immersed, solitary or in groups or densely aggregated forming a crust, conical to subglobose, papillate, dark brown to black, rugose, sometimes covered with conidiophores and capitate hyphae or in a dense subiculum consisting of partly decumbent conidiophores. Ostiole periphysate. Ascomatal wall fragile, carbonaceous, 22-33 μm thick, two-layered. Outer layer consisting of brown, polyhedral to angular cells with opaque walls. Inner layer consisting of several rows of thin-walled, hyaline cells. Paraphyses 3-4 μm wide tapering to 2-2.5 μm, septate, hyaline, longer than the asci. Asci 110-140 × (8-)10-11(-12.5) μm (mean ± SD = 162.2 ± 11.1 × 10.5 ± 1.2 µm), cylindrical-clavate, short-stipitate, apically narrowly rounded to obtuse, ascal apex with a non-amyloid apical annulus 2-2.5(-3) μm wide, ca. 1.5 μm high. Ascospores 21-28.5 × 4.5-5.5 μm (mean ± SD = 25.3 ± 1.7 × 5.5 ± 0.4 µm), fusiform, straight or slightly curved, hyaline, 1-4-septate, smooth, 2-seriate in the ascus.

Specimens examined.

Belgium • West Flanders province, Adinkerke, Cabour ; on decaying wood of Populus sp.; 21 Oct. 2007; B. Declerque (IFBL D0.16.23) . Czech Republic - Moravia • Lanžhot, Ranspurk National nature reserve ; alt. 150 m; on decaying wood of Carpinus betulus ; 14. Aug. 1979; V. Holubová-Jechová (PRA-19887) • Ibid.; on decaying wood of Populus alba , 28 Jul. 1970, V. Holubová-Jechová (PRA-19888) • Ibid.; on decaying wood Quercus robur , 28. Aug. 1976, V. Holubová-Jechová (PRA-19889) . Czech Republic - Moravia • Bílé Karpaty, Velká Javořina Mt. near Kamenna Bouda ; alt. 660 m; on decaying wood of a branch of Fagus sylvatica ; 27 Jul. 1970; V. Holubová-Jechová (PRA-19886) . France - Ariège • Pyreneés Mts., Rimont , Las Muros , alt. 480 m; on decaying wood of Fraxinus excelsior ; 4 Feb. 1999; J. Fournier J.F. 99018 (PRA-19890) . France - Ariège • Pyreneés Mts., Rimont , Las Muros , valley of the Peyrau brook, alt. 400 m; on decaying wood of Buxus sempervivens ; 9 Nov. 1999, J. Fournier J.F. 99261 (PRA-19892) • Ibid. ; on decaying wood of Salix caprea ; 12 Mar. 2000; J. Fournier J.F. 00026 (PRA-19891) . France - Ariège • Pyrénées Mts., Rimont , La Maille brook; alt. 550 m; on submerged wood; 28 May 2018; J. Fournier M.R. 4104 (PRA-19893) . Slovak Republic • Brezová near Senica ; on decaying wood of a trunk of Salix alba ; 6 Aug. 1976; V. Holubová-Jechová (PRA-19885) . United Kingdom - Somerset • Langridge , on decaying wood of roots of Ulmus sp.; Apr. 1869; C.E. Broome (holotype of S. cupulifera K(M) 57177) . United Kingdom • on decaying wood; 14 Apr. 1873; ex Herbarium C.E. Broome 1886 (W 7972) • Ibid.; ex Herbarium C.E. Broome 1886, no. 366 (W 7973) .

Habitat and geographical distribution.

Saprobe on decaying wood of Carpinus betulus , Fagus sylvatica , Fraxinus excelsior , Hedera sp., Ilex sp., Quercus sp., Salix alba , Ulmus sp. and other unknown hosts. Most of the records originate from Europe in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom ( Berkeley and Broome 1871; Hughes 1965; Holubová-Jechová 1973; this study). Hughes (1965) suggested that C. cupulifera is apparently only known from Europe. However, findings of this species also come from other continents. Catenularia cupulifera has been reported from foam in a river in Venezuela ( Fernández and Smits 2018), wood of Ulmus americana in the USA, Illinois ( Shim 1969) and decaying leaves of Pandanus sp. in Mauritius ( Whitton et al. 2012).

Notes.

Our observations of the teleomorph-anamorph connection between Ch. cupulifera and C. cuneiformis agree with those of Berkeley and Broome (1871), De Seynes (1886) and Booth (1958). Although this relationship has not yet been verified experimentally, both morphs occur together in nature. Since the anamorph and teleomorph represent two different stages of the life cycle of one organism, we propose a new combination in Catenularia based on Sphaeria cupulifera with C. cuneiformis and C. simplex as synonyms.

Catenularia novae-zelandiae resembles C. cupulifera but differs in larger and rounded-obconic conidia, 11.5-17.5 μm long, 14.5-18.5 μm wide. Both species have conspicuous collarettes with a frayed margin, which is larger in C. novae-zelandiae , 19-27 μm wide and 12.2-19 μm deep, funnel- to cup-shaped.

Figures

Figure 5. Catenularia cupulifera A, B ascomata accompanied by conidiophores and capitate hyphae C colony composed of conidiophores and capitate hyphae D-F conidiophores G capitate hypha H-J upper parts of conidiophores with conidia K, L conidia M, N asci with ascospores. Images: W 7972 (A, B, M); W 7973 (C, D, H, I); PRA- 19893 (E-G, J-L); JF 99018 (N); on natural substrate (A-N). Scale bars: 500 μm (A-C); 50 μm (D); 25 (E); 20 μm (F-L); 10 μm (M, N).