Lamprospora thelespora Martínez-Gil, M.Vega & E.Rubio, 2021

Vega, Marcel, Janošík, Lukáš, Eckstein, Jan, Martínez-Gil, Rubén & Rubio, Enrique, 2021, Warts galore - on three new Lamprospora De Not. species (Pezizales) from Southern Europe and Macaronesia and a type revision of three species described from the US by F. J. Seaver in the 1910 s, Cryptogamie, Mycologie 20 (6), pp. 91-119 : 105-109

Lamprospora thelespora Martínez-Gil, M.Vega & E.Rubio , sp. nov.

MYCOBANK NUMBER. — MB835295

ETYMOLOGY. — thelespora refers to the warts of the ascospores reminiscent of the teats on a cow’s udder.

DIAGNOSIS. — Lamprospora thelespora sp. nov. differs from other species of Lamprospora by its ascospores with an ornamentation of ± elongated warts together with an infection on the rhizoids and stems of its host Cheilothela chloropus (Brid.) Broth.

HOLOTYPE. — Spain, Ventosa (La Rioja), 42°25’10”N, 2°37’38”W, 690 m alt., a mossy area in a copse of Quercus ilex L., 8.III.2018, leg. RM. Host: Cheilothela chloropus , accompanying bryophytes: Barbula convoluta Hedw. , Dicranella howei Renault & Cardot , Didymodon vinealis (Brid.) R.H.Zander , Pleurochaete squarrosa (Brid.) Lindb. , Riccia sorocarpa Bisch. , Trichostomum brachydontium Bruch , Gongylanthus ericetorum (Raddi) Nees. (holotypus MA-Fungi 90701, isotypus personal herbarium Rubén Martínez-Gil, RM-2445).

ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — Cyprus. Agios Nikolaos (Paphos), 34°53’7”N, 32°45’19”E, 500 m alt., on banks alongside a road, 1.III.2019, leg. MV & Carol Hobart. Host: C. chloropus , accompanying mosses: Didymodon vinealis , Dicranella howei , Barbula convoluta , Pleurochaete squarrosa (paratypus B 70 0100020). — Spain. Fontecha (Álava), 42°44’29”N, 3°2’10”W, 485 m alt., mossy area amongst Q. ilex , 7.XII.2018, leg. RM. Host: C. chloropus (RM-2509). Add. collection: 14.XII.2019, leg. Antonio Ezquerro, Asier Ayala and RM (RM-2581); Ventosa (La Rioja), 42°25’10”N, 2°37’40”W, 680 m alt., mossy area under Q. ilex , 4.III.2018, leg. RM. Host: C. chloropus , accompanying bryophytes: P. squarrosa , Gongylanthus ericetorum , Riccia sp. , Bryum sp. , Syntrichia sp. (RM-2444). Add. collection: 5. I.2019 (RM-2533), 16.II.2019, accompanying bryophytes: G. ericetorum , Trichostomum brachydontium , Hypnum lacunosum (Brid.) Bertsch , Bryum sp. , Riccia sorocarpa (RM-2534); Ventosa (La Rioja), 42°25’12”N, 2°37’36”W, 695 m alt., a mossy area in a Q. ilex forest, 10.III.2018, leg. RM. Host: C. chloropus , accompanying bryophytes: P. squarrosa , Riccia sp. (VIT-Micoteca 9734). Add. collection: 6.XII.2018 (RM-2512); Almaraz (Cáceres), El Sierro, 39°46’41”N, 5°38’3”W, 360 m alt., among mosses in an old olive grove, 25. I.2013, leg. Celestino Gelpi. Host: C. chloropus (ERD-5763). Add. collections: 26. I.2014, 3. I.2015 (no material conserved); Alcaraz (Albacete), Cortijo Palomar, 38°38’43”N, 2°38’11”W, 805 m alt., mossy area under Q. ilex near a road, 7.III.1986, leg. R. Ros. Host: C. chloropus (MA-Fungi 45890); Parauta (Málaga), Área Recreativa Conejeras, 36°39’41”N, 5°05’45”W, 1160 m alt., mossy area in green space used as pastureland for sheep and goats, 7.II.2020, leg. MV. Host: C. chloropus (personal herbarium Marcel Vega, MV 200207-01).

ADDITIONAL SPECIMEN, NOT EXAMINED BY US. — Spain. Villa del Prado (Madrid), 40°15’06”N, 4°16’46”W, 470 m alt., mossy area among oaks, 5.XII.2020, leg. Jorge Hernanz. Host: C. chloropus (AH-56109).

MACROSCOPIC FEATURES ( Fig. 9 A-D)

Apothecia scattered, sometimes packed, on soil among shoots of C. chloropus and other bryophytes, sessile, 0.7-2.5 mm in diameter, broadly turbinate with a conspicuous fimbriate to shaggy margin up to 350-500 µm; hymenium slightly convex or flattened, bright orange, margin and outer surface paler than the hymenium; subiculum present, whitish.

MICROSCOPIC FEATURES ( Figs 10 , 11 )

Asci

Straight, cylindrical, narrowing toward base, 225-480 × 22-40 µm, operculate, IKI-, arising from perforated croziers, usually with eight spores, at times also with four normal and four aborted spores.

Spores

Uniseriate, hyaline, globose, (17)18-20(22) µm diam., with an excentric lipid drop (10)11-14 µm in diameter. Spore ornamentation of isolated warts of irregular shape and size, 1-2.5 µm wide and 1-3 µm high, number and distribution of warts on the spore surface varies from one spore to the next but coverage of the surface is rather low. Warts in side view hemispherical, nodulose or rarely acute, but mostly blunt or truncate, the contours of some warts reminiscent of a baby’s dummy others resemble a light bulb, especially those with a constricted base. Warts in face view rounded, oval, pyriform or uncinate, but also lenticular, elongated or cuneiform.Warts mostly isolated but also sometimes packed and occasionally confluent, only rarely anastomosing. Spore surface between coarse warts ± rugose or slightly gibbose and often covered with tiny applanate warts, with pustules, in some spores there were short and very thin crests approx. 0.5 µm wide, occasionally anastomosing.

Paraphyses

Filiform, cylindrical, straight, 3-6 µm wide, multiseptate, not branched, with abundant orange carotenoid pigment which turns green in IKI, pigment also occurs in lipid bodies (LBs), apical cell slightly thickened, 40-100 × 5-8 µm with refractive vacuolar bodies (VBs) of 2-5 µm in diameter.

Structure of the apothecium

Ectal excipulum consisting of a 30-70 µm thick layer of textura angularis-intricata, a mixture of elongate and isodiametric cells 10-40 × 6-14 µm, with VBs, with walls up to 3 µm thick. Medullary excipulum 180-200 µm thick, consisting of a textura intricata of large and wide irregular almost vesiculose hyphae with cells 25-90 × 15-30 µm.

Within the hardly differentiated subhymenium of cylindrical cells 3.5-6 µm wide these hyphae reduce in size and appear more or less rounded. Anchoring hyphae of the subiculum are 4.5-9.5 µm wide, septate, with cell walls 1-2.5 µm thick, apex rounded or obtuse.Margin prominent consisting of chains of hyaline cells, with walls 2 µm thick, at the base parallel to the paraphyses, later abruptly changing direction and oriented perpendicular to the paraphyses. At the same time cells gradually become shorter and thicker and end in claviform or pyriform elements of 20-45 × 11-21 µm, the latter contain VBs up to 5 µm.

INFECTION ( Fig. 12 )

Lamprospora thelespora sp. nov. infects the rhizoids and cortical cells of subterranean stems – for information on this growth form see Porley (1992) – of the moss Cheilothela chloropus ; no growth modifications of the infected cells were observed. Appressoria are 40-70 × 20-40 µm in side-view with mostly two septa and sometimes with additional oblique walls. They are first partly, and later completely covered, by a layer of accompanying hyphae. From the middle cell of an appressorium an infection peg grows through the moss cell wall forming a numerously ramified haustorium inside the infected cell. The penetration point is flanked by two parallel thickenings of the rhizoid cell wall resulting in a slit-like structure.

HABITAT AND OCCURRENCE ( Fig. 9E, F )

The site of the Spanish holotype collection is situated in an oak forest with Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp. as the main species, other vascular plants are Q. coccifera L., Cistus albidus L., C. salviifolius L., Erica cinerea L., Genista scorpius (L.) DC., Asparagus acutifolius L., Ononis tridentata L. The soil is not excessively acidic. The rocks are conglomerates of siliceous gravels embedded in matrix or cement, a little calcareous and marls with some lime and even plaster in some areas.

The Cypriot locality is in the Paphos Forest south of the Troodos Mountains, the vegetation is dominated by Pinus brutia Ten. and P. halepensis Mill. growing on calcareous rendzina soil. There were numerous patches of C. chloropus on banks alongside a road leading to Tzelefos Bridge, several plants’ rhizoids were infected by L. thelespora sp. nov. Differing from the Spanish collections, apothecia not only grew exposed on the soil among moss plants but often were hidden and embedded in host moss cushions at the bases of the stems.

Cheilothela chloropus , the host of L. thelespora sp. nov., is a pioneer species that occurs in open habitats such as clearings, on rocky ground and in grasslands. It develops an intricate system of underground axes that is a unique feature among members of the Dicranales ( Porley 1992) . As a xerophilous and highly dessication-tolerant species ( Proctor & Pence 2002) it is widespread in Spain including the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands on both basic and acidic soils (pers. communication R. M. Ros). It has been detected in most countries of the Mediterranean region ( Ros et al. 2013), as well as in Northern France and Brittany ( Gaume 1956; Werner 1994). According to Porley (2013), C. chloropus is a rare species in southern United Kingdom and has also been found in South Africa. Further occurrences from the rest of the world are not known so far.

Figures

FIG. 9. — Lamprospora thelespora Martínez-Gil, M.Vega & E.Rubio, sp. nov. (A, RM-2534; B, VIT-Micoteca 9734; C, RM-2533; D, F, paratype B 70 0100020; E, holotype MA-Fungi 90701). A-D, apothecia between shoots of Cheilothela chloropus (Brid.) Broth; E, F, habitat.

FIG. 10. — Lamprospora thelespora Martínez-Gil, M.Vega & E.Rubio, sp. nov. (A, B, E, F, paratype B 70 0100020; C, VIT-Micoteca 9734; D, RM-2533). A, B, ascospores inside asci stained with CB; C, E, ascospores inside asci and paraphyses in water; D, paraphyses in CRB; F, cross-section of an apothecium showing subhymenium, medullary and part of ectal excipulum in water. Scale bars: A-D, 10 μm; E, 20 μm; F, 50 μm.

FIG. 11. — Lamprospora thelespora Martínez-Gil,M.Vega & E.Rubio,sp.nov.(A-F. RM-2534).SEM photos of ascospores.Scale bars:A-F,5 μm.

FIG. 12. — Lamprospora thelespora Martínez-Gil, M.Vega & E.Rubio, sp. nov. infection structures, RM-2534: A, appressorium with a cover of accompanying hyphae on a rhizoid in surface view; B, infected rhizoid with removed appressorium showing the penetration point in surface view; C, D, infection structures on rhizoids in optical section; E, infection structures on a cortical cell of subterranean stem in optical section. Scale bar: 50 μm.