Alfaria humicola J.M. Liang, G.S. Li & L. Cai

Liang, Junmin, Li, Guangshuo, Zhou, Shiyue, Zhao, Meiqi & Cai, Lei, 2019, Myrothecium-like new species from turfgrasses and associated rhizosphere, MycoKeys 51, pp. 29-53 : 29

Alfaria humicola J.M. Liang, G.S. Li & L. Cai sp. nov. Fig. 4

Type.

China, Beijing, Olympic Park, from rhizosphere soil of Poa sp., 13 Dec 2017, S.Y. Zhou, holotype HMAS 247955, ex-holotype culture CGMCC3.19213 = LC12143.

Description.

Colonies on PDA, CMA and OA approx. 7-8 cm diam. after 7 d at 25 °C. Hyphae hyaline, smooth, branched, 1-2 μm wide. Conidiomata sporodochial, stromatic, superficial, cupulate to discoid, scattered to gregarious, oval to elongate or irregular in outline, 50-200 μm diam., 70-150 μm deep, without setose hyphae, covered by a green to black agglutinated slimy mass of conidia. Stroma well-developed, hyaline, of textura globulose or textura angularis. Setae absent. Conidiophores arising from the basal stroma, unbranched or branched, initially hyaline and smooth, becoming pigmented and verrucose with age, 11-25 µm long. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, cylindrical to allantoid, initially hyaline and smooth becoming pigmented and verrucose with age, 14-33 × 2-3 µm. Conidia aseptate, smooth, hyaline, elongated ellipsoidal to limoniform, straight, 7 –9(– 10) × 2-3 µm (av. 8 ± 0.6 × 3 ± 0.2 µm, n = 50).

Distribution.

China.

Etymology.

Name refers the substrate, soil, from which this fungus was isolated.

Additional isolate examined.

China, Beijing, Olympic Park, from rhizosphere soil of Poa sp., 13 Dec 2017, S.Y. Zhou, LC12144.

Notes.

Alfaria humicola represents another distinct lineage in Alfaria (Fig. 1). Alfaria humicola lacks setae, distinguishing it from Alf. caricicola and Alf. thymi . Furthermore, the conidiogenous cells of Alf. humicola (14-33 × 2-3 µm) are much longer than that of Alf. arenosa (5-10 × 1-2 µm), Alf. ossiformis (5-10 × 2-3 µm) and Alf. terrestris (5-11 × 1-3 µm). Compared with those old Myrothecium taxa lacking sequences, Alf. humicola is morphologically similar to M. atrocarreum (Berkeley & Broome, 1877), M. conicum (Fuckel, 1870), M. ellipsosporum (Fuckel, 1866), M. fragosianum (Saccardo, 1917), M. leucomelas ( Höhnel, 1925) and M. oryza (Saccardo, 1917), but Alf. humicola produces limoniform conidia which makes it distinguishable. In addition, the conidiogenous cells of Alf. humicola show conspicuous collarettes which were not described in previous old taxa.