Arthrinium sporophleum Kunze, 1823, in Kunze & Schmidt's Mykologische Hefte, 2, p. 104; Fries, 1832, Systema Mycol., 3, p. 377

Pintos, Angel, Alvarado, Pablo, Planas, Juan & Jarling, Rene, 2019, Six new species of Arthrinium from Europe and notes about A. caricicola and other species found in Carex spp. hosts, MycoKeys 49, pp. 15-48 : 15

Arthrinium sporophleum Kunze, 1823, in Kunze & Schmidt's Mykologische Hefte, 2, p. 104; Fries, 1832, Systema Mycol., 3, p. 377 Fig. 14

Sporophleum gramineum Nees, 1824, apud Link in Linne, Species Plantarum, ed. 4 (Willdenow's), 6, 1, p. 45.

Torula eriophori Berkeley, 1836, Fungi in J. E. Smith's English Flora, 5 (2), p. 359.

Arthrinium sporophleoides Fuckel, Jb. nassau. Ver. Naturk. 27-28: 78 (1874) [1873-74]

Description.

Asexual morph: Mycelium consisting on smooth hyaline branched hyphae, 2-5 µm in diameter. Colonies oval to irregular, dark blakish brown, 300-1200 × 150-650 µm. Conidiophore mother cells sub-cylindrical, hyaline to pale brown, measuring 5-7 × 5-7 µm (n = 20). Conidiophores straight to flexuous, cylindrical, hyaline except for the thick brown to dark brown transversal septa, 30-130 × 2-4 µm (n = 20). Conidia brown, smooth, lemon-shaped in face view, measuring (10 –)11–14(– 15) × (5 –)6–8(– 9) µm (n = 45), triangular with the outer edge curved and rounded angles in side view, measuring 5-8 µm thick. Sterile cells paler than conidia, subspherical or triangular, 5-8 µm wide. Culture characteristics: on MEA 2% colonies cottony, white with grey patches, reverse pale grey.

Notes.

Arthrinium sporophleum is the only species of Arthrinium with lemon-shaped conidia. Kunze (1823) considered that Sporophleum gramineum represents a synonym of this species, and Cooke (1954) considered A. sporophleoides Fuckel a synonym of this species too. The only sample analyzed in the present work fits the descriptions of this species by Kunze (1823), Ellis et al. (1951), Ellis (1965) and Scheuer (1996). This sample was found in Juncus sp., but this remarkable species has been often reported from Carex sp. hosts ( Ellis 1965). Interestingly, other species occurring in Carex sp. present also conidia with unusual shapes, e.g. A. puccinioides (polygonal), A. curvatum var. minus (curved), and A. caricicola or A. japonicum (fusiform).

Specimens examined.

Spain: Balearic Islands: Mallorca, Escorca, on dead leaves of Juncus sp., 21 Feb. 2018, A. Pintos 21218 (MA-Fungi 91749).

Other specimens studied.

Arthrinium arundinis : Spain: Galicia: Santiago de Compostela, city garden, culms of Bambusa sp., 11 Jan. 2018, A. Pintos 11118A (MA-Fungi 91722). Arthrinium phragmitis : Spain: Balearic Islands: Mallorca, Esporles, on dead culms of Arundo donax , 29 July 2017, A. Pintos (MA-Fungi 91744, AP29717A). Ibidem., on dead stem of Phragmites australis , 3 Feb. 2018, A. Pintos (MA-Fungi 91743, AP3218). Jardin Botanico de Soller, on dead culms of Arundo donax , 24 Oct. 2017, A. Pintos (MA-Fungi 91742, AP2410172A). Puigpunyent, on dead culms of Phragmites australis , 28 Dec. 2017, A. Pintos (MA-Fungi 91741, AP281217A1). Arthrinium rasikravindrii : Spain: Balearic Islands: Mallorca, Esporlas, on dead culms of Phyllostachys aurea , 8 Aug. 2017, A. Pintos (MA-Fungi 91747, AP8817). Jardin Botanico de Soller, on dead culms of Bambusa sp., 24 Oct. 2017, A. Pintos (AP2420171). Soller, on dead culms of Phyllostachys aurea , 10 Apr. 2018, A. Pintos (MA-Fungi 91748, AP10418).