Boothiella tetraspora Lodhi & J.H. Mirza

Yang, Erfu, Lu, Wenhua, Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Dai, Dongqin, Gao, Ying, Promputtha, Itthayakorn & Karunarathna, Samantha C., 2023, Three interesting fungi from American bullfrog larvae (Rana catesbeiana) in Yunnan, China, Phytotaxa 587 (3), pp. 251-268 : 258-259

Boothiella tetraspora Lodhi & J.H. Mirza , Mycologia 54(2): 217 (1962) ( Figure 4 )

Index Fungorum number: IF 327083

Isolated from intestinal contents of dead American bullfrog larvae. Sexual morph on PDA: Mycelium 3–5 μm wide, hyaline to yellow pale, thick-walled, branched, septate, with granules. Ascomata 260–370 × 240–330 μm (x̅ =245 × 285 μm, n=10), globose to subglobose, solitary or gregarious, superficial to immersed on PDA, brown to dark brown or black, membranaceous, glabrous, without ostiolate. Ascomatal wall composed of membranaceous, subhyaline to pale brown cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium not observed. Asci 80–100 × 15–20 μm (x̅ =87.5 × 15.5 μm, n=20), unitunicate, four-spored, clavate to broadly cylindrical, apically round, short pedicellate, furcate pedicel, evanescent. Ascospores 20–30 × 10–20 μm (x̅ = 24 × 14.5 μm, n=20), ovoid to ellipsoidal, hyaline to yellowish brown to dark brown, aseptate, rough to verruculose, sometimes visible a germ pore at one or each end, without sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Colonies growing on PDA reach 30–40 mm in diameter after one week at 27 °C, forming the brown to dark brown fruiting bodies within one month in PDA. Obverse: flat, velvety, hairy, pale brown, entire edge. Reverse: yellowish brown. Without pigments produced in PDA.

Known substratum: Soil ( Lodhi & Mirza 1962, Wang et al. 2019); Sand ( Wang et al. 2019); Intestinal contents of dead American bullfrog larvae (this study).

Known Distribution: Pakistan ( Lodhi & Mirza 1962); Spain, India ( Wang et al. 2019), China (This study).

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Qujing Normal University, intestinal contents of dead American bullfrog larvae, GPS: 103°44’35”E, 25°30’46”N, 1856.6 m, Wen-hua Lu, ER 4, (Herb. HKAS 125767 ), living culture KUNCC22-12510 .

Notes: Based on detailed descriptions of Boothiella tetraspora , our isolate KUNCC22-12510 fits with previous strains in morphology, forming brown to dark brown ascomata, with globose to subglobose, superficial to immersed, non-ostiolate, additionally, both strains almost have the same size of asci and ascospores, with four-spored asci, ovoid to ellipsoidal conidia ( Lodhi & Mirza 1962, Wang et al. 2019). Phylogenetically, our isolate KUNCC22-12510 clustered with Boothiella tetraspora (CBS 334.67 and CBS 887.97) with reliable statistical supports (99%ML/1 BYPP, Figure 2 ). The BLASTn results of ITS, LSU, tub2, and rpb2 region demonstrate 99–100% similarity with Boothiella tetraspora strains (CBS 334.67 and CBS 887.97). Therefore, our isolate KUNCC22-12510 is identified as B. tetraspora , a new host and country record based on morphological features combined with phylogeny evidence.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Phylogram of Sordariaceae were constructed based on combined ITS, LSU and tub2 sequences. Related sequences were taken from Phukhamsakda et al. (2020) and Huang et al. (2021). The tree is rooted with Chaetomium globosum (CBS 160.62) and C. microthecia (LC4685). The BI and ML bootstrap support values equal to or above 0.90 BYPP and 60 % are shown at the first and second positions above the nodes. Type strains are in bold, and newly generated strains are in red.

FIGURE 4. Boothiella tetraspora (HKAS 125767).a Colony on PDA for one month.b, c Close-up of ascomata.d Hyphae. e, f Ascomata. g–k Asci. l–o Ascospores. Scale bars: f = 300 μm; e = 200 μm; g–k = 50 μm; d, m–o = 20 μm; i = 10 μm.