Leifia brevispora Gafforov, S.L. Liu & L.W. Zhou

Liu, Shi-Liang, Gafforov, Yusufjon, Zhang, Xian-Ying, Wang, Hong-Ling, Wang, Xue-Wei & Zhou, Li-Wei, 2019, Reinstatement of the corticioid genus Leifia (Hymenochaetales, Basidiomycota) with a new species L. brevispora from Hubei, Central China, MycoKeys 51, pp. 85-96 : 85

Leifia brevispora Gafforov, S.L. Liu & L.W. Zhou sp. nov. Figures 2and 3

Diagnosis.

The species is distinct from Leifia flabelliradiata by shorter basidiospores and by being distributed in warm-temperate to subtropical areas in East Asia.

Typification.

CHINA. Hubei Province, Wudangshan Town, Wudangshan National Forest Park, on fallen angiosperm branch, 20 Aug 2017, LWZ 20170820-46 (holotype in IFP 019239). GenBank: ITS = MK343469; 28S = MK343473.

Etymology.

brevispora (Latin), referring to short basidiospores.

Basidiomata.

Annual, resupinate, inseparable from substrate, effused, up to 0.6 mm thick. Hymenophore grandinioid to subodontioid. Margin white, smooth or minutely fibrous, sometimes bearing hyphal strands, thinning out, up to 2 mm wide. Aculei cream to buff in colour, rounded to ellipsoid, 2-3 per mm, up to 0.5 mm long, several being clustered together when dry. Subiculum white, up to 100 μm thick.

Microscopic structures.

Hyphal system monomitic; generative hyphae without clamp connections. Subicular hyphae hyaline, thin- to thick-walled, occasionally branched, frequently septate, more or less parallel to substrate, 2-4 μm wide. Aculeus (subhymenial) hyphae hyaline, distinctly thick-walled, mainly vertically intertwined, 2-4 μm wide. Cystidia hyaline, thick-walled, tubular with an invaginated apical end, 60-100 × 5-7 μm, swelling in KOH. Basidia hyaline, thick-walled, clavate to cylindrical, with four sterigmata each 2-3 μm long and a simple septum at the base, 14-18 × 4.5-5.5 μm. Basidioles similar in shape to basidia, but smaller. Basidiospores ellipsoid, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, inamyloid and indextrinoid, acyanophilous, 3.8 –4.5(– 5) × (1.8 –)2– 2.5 μm, L = 4.13 μm, W = 2.14 μm, Q = 1.92-1.96 (60/2).

Other specimen examined.

CHINA. Hubei Province, Wudangshan Town, Wudangshan National Forest Park, on fallen angiosperm branch, 20 Aug 2017, LWZ 20170820-48 (IFP 019240).

Notes.

The grandinioid hymenophore, simple-septate hyphae, distinctly thick-walled cystidia with an invaginated apical end and ellipsoid to subovate basidiospores with a straight or concave side, indicate that the new species is the second member of Leifia . Moreover, the phylogeny inferred from the ITS and 28S dataset also confirm the taxonomic position of L. brevispora . The generic type of Leifia , L. flabelliradiata , differs from L. brevispora by having longer basidiospores (4.5-5.5 × 2-2.5 µm) and a distribution in Europe ( Eriksson et al. 1981).