Spiropes angylocalycis Berm.-Cova & M. Piepenbr. sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Holotype.

On Meliola sp. on living leaves of Angylocalyx oligophyllus ( Fabaceae), Benin, Atlantique, Attogon, Niaouli Forest, 6°44'42"N, 2°7'50"E, 69 m a.s.l., 28 February 2022, M.A. Bermúdez, A. Tabé, D. Dongnima, I. Agonglo, O.P. Agbani, M. Piepenbring, N.S. Yorou, MB167 (M).

Etymology.

Named after the genus of the host plant.

Description.

Colonies effuse, dark brown to black, velvety to hairy. Hyphae superficial, branched, anastomosing, septate, 0.5-2 µm wide, straw-coloured, smooth. Conidiophores arising singly, erect or ascending, straight to flexuous, mostly flexuous at the tips, septate, up to 350 µm long, 4-6 µm thick, pale olivaceous-brown to brown, with rough surface, with scattered scars mostly in upper parts of the conidiophores. Conidia solitary, straight or slightly curved, fusiform to obclavate, 3-septate, (15-)17-25(-30) × 5-6.5 µm, 2-3 µm wide at the base, brown, the cells at each end pale brown, septa darker in colour, verrucose. As seen by SEM, the ornamentation of the spores is distinctly reticulated, with thin to thick networks and no ridges.

Known distribution.

On colonies of Meliola sp. on living leaves of Angylocalyx oligophyllus in Benin.

Notes.

Spiropes angylocalycis is similar to S. clavatus by the presence of 3-septate mostly fusiform conidia, with a similar size range (Ellis 1968). However, the conidiophores of S. clavatus are synnematous, while they are mononematous in S. angylocalycis .