Micropeltis goniothalamicola Marasinghe, Hongsanan & Boonmee, 2021

Marasinghe, Diana S., Hongsanan, Sinang, Boonmee, Saranyaphat & Xie, Ning, 2021, Addition to Micropeltidaceae: Micropeltis goniothalamicola sp. nov. and new record of Scolecopeltidium menglaense from Chiang Rai, Thailand, Phytotaxa 487 (1), pp. 56-64 : 58-62

Micropeltis goniothalamicola Marasinghe, Hongsanan & Boonmee , sp. nov. ( FIGURE 2 )

Index Fungorum number: IF557872; Facesoffungi number: FoF 08678

Etymology:—The specific epithet refers to the host which the holotype was collected

Holotype:— MFLU 19–1212

Colonies epiphyllous on upper surface of leaves appearing as black dots. Hyphae not observed. Sexual morph: Thyriothecia up to 400 µm in diam., superficial, gregarious to solitary, subdense, black, flattened, round, dimidiate, with a central ostiole. Upper wall blackish green, membranous, comprising overlapping, puzzle-like, lobed, compact, pseudoparenchymatous hyphae with textura epidermoidea, lacking a basal plate. Hamathecium comprising with paraphyses. Paraphyses 1.5 µm, filiform, hyaline. Asci 45–60 × 15–20 µm (x = 52.2 × 18.7 µm, n = 10), 6–8-spored, bitunicate, obclavate to widely fusiform, hyaline, ocular chamber present. Ascospores 18–28 × 5–10 µm (x = 26.2 × 6.1 µm, n = 20), hyaline, overlapping, 3–4-seriate, elliptic or spindled shaped slightly curved, 3–5-septate, with shorter apical cell, globose middle cell and shorter narrower basal cell when mature, surrounded by mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Material examined:— THAILAND, Chiang Rai, Mae Fah Luang University, Botanical Garden, on living leaves of Goniothalamus marcanii Craib. (Annonaceae) , 16 November 2018, Diana Sandamali, D167 (MFLU 19–1212, holotype).

Notes: Micropeltis goniothalamicola is most similar to M. multiseptata in having hyaline filiform paraphyses, obclavate to widely fusiform asci with elliptic or spindled shaped slightly curved ascospores. However, M. goniothalamicola can be distinguished by its relatively smaller ascomata, 6–8-spored asci and 4–5-septate ascospores, and covering with thin mucilaginous sheath (Wu & Hyde 2013). Combined sequence data of LSU & ITS phylogenetic analysis, our collections clustered with other Micropeltis species with a well-supported clade (91% ML, 0.99 BYPP). Micropeltis goniothalamicola forms a basal branch with M. dendrophthoes (MFLUCC 15–0599 and MFLUCC 15– 0600), M. dendrophthoes (MFLU 16–0081) and Micropeltis sp. (MFLU 16–0090). However, M. goniothalamicola differs from M. dendropthoes in having filiform, hyaline paraphyses and shorter basal cell in ascospores. Micropeltis dendrophthoes has evanescent paraphyses with longer basal cell and M. amomi and Micropeltis sp. are absence of paraphyses ( Hongsanan et al. 2015, Zeng et al. 2019).

Scolecopeltidium menglaense H.X. Wu, X.Y. Zeng & K.D. Hyde Fungal Diversity 97: 416 (2019) ( FIGURE 3 ) Index Fungorum number: IF555496; Facesoffungi number: FoF 08679

Colonies epiphyllous, appearing as black dots. Hyphae superficial, hyaline, hard to detect. Sexual morph: Ascomata up to 350 µm in diam., superficial, gregarious to solitary, black, flattened, circular, with a central ostiole. Upper wall darkgreen to black, comprising compacted, net like, overlapping, pseudoparenchymatous hyphae of textura epidermoidea cells, with hyaline, membranous margin, lacking a basal plate. Hamathecium comprising hyaline filliform paraphyses about 1.5 µm wide. Asci 40–50 × 15–25 µm (x = 46.5 × 20.5 µm, n = 15), 8-spored, bitunicate, clavate. Ascospores 25–38 × 5–10 µm (x = 34 × 8.5 µm, n = 20), hyaline, cylindrical, overlapping, 2-seriate, 6–7- septate, constricted at the septum. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Material examined:— THAILAND, Chiang Rai Province, Mae Fah Luang Botanical Garden, on living leaves of Jasmine grandiflorum L. ( Oleaceae ), 16 November 2018, Diana Sandamali, D102 ( MFLU 19–1009).

Notes: Scolecopeltidium menglaense was collected from leaves of Amomum villosum in China ( Zeng et al. 2019). Our fungi is morphologically simillar to S. menglaense ( IFRD 9303) in having superficial ascomata with greenish upperwall, hamathecium presence with paraphyses, 8-spored, bitunicate clavate asci consisting of overlapping, 2- seriate, cylindrical, 6–7-septate ascospores with little larger apical cell. Multigene phylogenetic analysis, our new strain ( MFLU 19–1009) clustered with S. menglaense ( IFRD 9303) with high support (100% ML, 1.00 BYPP). However, ITS base pair comparisons are not possible due to the lack of ITS sequence data for S. menglaense ( IFRD 9303). Therefore, we identified our strain as a new host record from Thailand.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Micropeltis goniothalamicola (MFLU 19–1212). a–c Ascomata on living leaf surface. d Squash mount of ascoma. e The upper wall. f Paraphyses. g–k Immature to mature asci. l–n Immature ascospores (Fig. n Thin mucilaginous sheath in red arrow). o Mature ascospore with shorter basal cell (red arrow). Scale bars: c = 100 µm, d = 50 µm e = 25 µm, f–k = 10 µm, l–o = 5 µm.

FIGURE 3. Scolecopeltidium menglaense (MFLU 19–1009). a–c Ascomata on living leaf surface. d Squash mount of ascoma. e The upper wall. f Paraphyses. g–k Immature to mature asci. l–m Ascospores. Scale bars: c = 100 µm, d = 50 µm e = 25 µm, f–k = 10 µm, l–m = 5 µm.