Sphaeropsis guizhouensis Y.Y. Chen, A. J. Dissanayake & Jian K. Liu., J. Fungi 7, 893. (2021).

Li, Wen-Li, Liang, Rui-Ru, Dissanayake, Asha J. & Liu, Jian-Kui, 2023, Botryosphaerialean fungi associated with woody oil plants cultivated in Sichuan Province, China, MycoKeys 97, pp. 71-116 : 71

Sphaeropsis guizhouensis Y.Y. Chen, A. J. Dissanayake & Jian K. Liu., J. Fungi 7, 893. (2021).

Fig. 18

Description.

Saprobic on decayed branched of Camellia oleifera . Sexual morph: Ascostromata 166-198 × 146.5-175 μm (x̄ = 182 × 160.5 μm, n = 20), initially immersed under host epidermis, becoming semi-immersed to erumpent, solitary or gregarious, uniloculate, black, globose to subglobose, membraneous, ostiolate. Ostiole 75-80 μm wide, central, papillate, pale brown, relatively broad, periphysate. Peridium 23-27 μm wide, comprising 3-5 layers of relatively thick-walled, dark brown to black-walled cells arranged in a textura angularis. Pseudoparaphyses 2-2.5 μm diam., hyphae-like, numerous, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 87.5-135 × 28.5-35 μm (x̄ = 111 × 32 μm, n = 20), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to clavate, sometimes short pedicellate, mostly long pedicellate, apex rounded with an ocular chamber. Ascospores 28.5-33 × 13-15 μm (x̄ = 30.5 × 14 μm, n = 20), overlapping uniseriate to biseriate, ellipsoidal to obovoid, pale brown to dark brown, septate, slightly wide at the center, minutely guttulate, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Not observed.

Culture characteristics.

Ascopores germinate on PDA within 12 h. Colonies growing on PDA, reaching a diam. of 7 cm after five days at 25 °C, effuse, velvety, with entire to slightly undulate edge. Surface initially white and later turning dark olivaceous from the surrounding of the colony and dark gray in reverse.

Material examined.

China, Sichuan Province, Chengdu City, Pidu District , on dead branches of Pistacia chinensis , 30°19'57"N, 103°59'47"E, elevation 442 m, 24th March 2021, W.L Li, 290 (HUEST 22.0105), living culture UESTCC 22.0104 .

Notes.

Sphaeropsis guizhouensis was introduced by Dissanayake et al. (2021) and isolated from an unknown host. One isolate obtained in the present study clustered with the ex-type isolate of Sp. guizhouensis (CGMCC 3.20352) in the phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS and tef1 sequence data with high bootstrap support. A comparison of ITS and tef1 shows that there are no base pair differences between the isolates of UESTCC 22.0104 and CGMCC 3.20352. The new collection is morphologically similar to Sp. guizhouensis , with immersed to erumpent, black ascostromata and biseriate, aseptate, ellipsoid to obovoid, thick-walled conidia. In addition, ascospores become brown and septate when aged. Considering similar morphology and strong molecular evidence, we identify UESTCC 22.0104 as Sp. guizhouensis and this is the first record of Sp. guizhouensis on Camellia oleifera .

Figures

Figure 18. Sphaeropsis guizhouensis (HUEST 22.0105, new host record) a, b appearance of ascomata on natural substrate c vertical section of ascoma d section of peridium e-h mature asci i-l brown ascospores. Scale bars: 20 μm (c-h); 5 μm (i-l).