Neotorula nujiangensis S.C. He, D.P. Wei & Jayaward., 2024

He, Shu-Cheng, Wei, De-Ping, Bhunjun, Chitrabhanu S., Apurillo, Carlo Chris S., Thiyagaraja, Vinodhini, Jayawardena, Ruvishika S., Zhao, Yun-Wei & Zhao, Qi, 2024, A new species of Neotorula (Pleosporales) from the Southwest, China, Phytotaxa 662 (3), pp. 251-261 : 255-256

Neotorula nujiangensis S.C. He, D.P. Wei & Jayaward. , sp. nov. Fig. 3

Index Fungorum number: IF901395, Facesoffungi number: FoF 15220.

Etymology: Referring to the collecting site of the type specimen, Nujiang City, Yunnan, China.

Holotype: HKAS 131234

Saprobic on dead wood. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies effuse on natural substrate, scattered, hairy, brown to black. Mycelium mostly immersed, branched, septate, smooth, brown to black. Conidiophores macronematous, erect, complex, straight, branched, guttulate, thick-walled, smooth-walled, multi-septate, frequently with irregular branches, pale brown to brown, lighten color towards the apex, 100–140 × 14–18 μm (x̄ = 120 × 16 μm, n = 10). Conidiogenous cells polyblastic, terminal, subglobose to globose, verruculose, pale brown to brown, thick-walled. Conidia solitary, pleuroacrogenous, simple, dry, monilioid, guttulate, thick-walled, 0–5-septate, pale brown to dark brown, verruculose, 17.2–32.6 × 13.0–18.7 μm (x̄ = 25.0 × 15.8 μm, n = 30). Sexual morph: Not observed.

Culture characteristics: Conidia germinating within 24 h on PDA at 25 °C, reaching 3.5–3.7 cm after 45 days incubation, above colony brown; reverse black with white edge, entire edge, flat, surface rough, mycelia dense, no pigment.

Distribution: Nujiang City, Yunnan Province, China.

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Nujiang City , (26°32′N, 98°43′E, 2450 m), on dead wood, 7 July 2022, Shu-Cheng He, HSC613 ( HKAS131234 , holotype) ; ex-type, KUNCC 23–12855 . ibid. HSC941-1 , ( HKAS131235 , paratype) ; ex-paratype, KUNCC23-16668 .

Notes: Our isolates ( HKAS 131234 and HKAS 131235) formed a monophyletic clade with Neotorula aquatica and N. submersa with 100 ML /1.00 PP statistical support ( Figure 2 ). Neotorula nujiangensis resembles N. aquatica and N. submersa in having pleuroacrogenous conidia ( Hyde et al. 2016; Su et al. 2016). However, Neotorula nujiangensis compared with N. aquatica has longer and wider conidiophores (120 × 16 μm vs 41 × 6.5 μm and 120 × 16 μm vs 33 × 4.5 μm) and conidia (25 × 15.8 μm vs 13.5 × 5.5 μm and 25 × 15.8 μm vs 19 × 5.5 μm). Neotorula nujiangensis and N. submersa were from decaying wood in a terrestrial habitat while N. aquatica reported from an aquatic environment. Neotorula nujiangensis differs from N. aquatica by 0.49 % ITS, 0.28 % 28S and 0.62 % 18S differences in the nucleotides. Neotorula nujiangensis differs from N. submersa by 6.56 % ITS and 0.24 % 28S differences in the nucleotides. Thus, based on phylogenetic, morphological and ecological approaches, we propose our specimen as a new species, Neotorula nujiangensis .

Figures

FIGURE 2. PHI analysis of combined 28S, 18S, tef1, ITS and rpb2 sequence data for N. nujiangensis (HKAS 131234) and related species of Neotorula. PHI results (Fw = 1.0) indicate no significant recombination with the dataset. New taxon is shown in red.

FIGURE 3 Neotorula nujiangensis (HKAS 131234, holotype) a Host substrate. b Colonies on natural substrate. c–f Conidiophores giving rise to conidiogenous cells. g-r Conidial chains. s, w Conidia. x, y Culture on PDA. Scale bars: d, e, s–w = 10 μm, c, f–i, p–r = 25 μm, j–o = 50 μm, b = 200 μm.