Qarounispora grandiappendiculata Nourel-Din, Abdel-Aziz & Abdel-Wahab, 2022

Nourel-Din, Ali A. H., Abdel-Aziz, Faten A. & Abdel-Wahab, Mohamed A., 2022, Qarounispora grandiappendiculata gen. et sp. nov. (Halosphaeriaceae, Microascales) from Qaroun Lake, Egypt, Phytotaxa 530 (1), pp. 86-94 : 91-92

Qarounispora grandiappendiculata Nourel-Din, Abdel-Aziz & Abdel-Wahab , sp. nov. ( Figure 2 )

MycoBank number: MB 841142

Etymology:— In reference to the large-sized polar appendage to the ascospore.

Type:— EGYPT. El-Faiyum governorate: Qaroun Lake, on decaying submerged wood, 29° 29′ 00″ N 30° 49′ 09″ E, 20 November 2018, Coll. A. A. H. Nourel-Din ( SUMCC H-17009 , holotype) .

Ascomata 125–200 μm in diameter ( x = 166.5 μm, n = 7), perithecial, ostiolate, papillate, superficial or partly immersed, globose to subglobose, yellow to orange-brown in color, membranous. Neck 50–90 μm long, 45–60 μm diam., cylindrical to conical, hyaline to yellow-orange, periphysate, ascospores ooze from the ostiolar canal forming spore mass that is bright yellow-orange in color. Peridium 12.3–22.8 μm thick, membranous, one-layered, yellow to orange-brown in color, forming textura angularis. Catenophyses present. Asci 65–115 × 30–45 μm ( x = 86 × 38 μm, n = 6), unitunicate, thin-walled, without an apical apparatus, eight-spored, developing at the base of the ascomatal venter, semi-persistent, clavate or broadly ellipsoidal. Ascospores 18–40 × 13–18 μm ( x = 27 × 14 μm, n = 50), hyaline to yellow-orange in color, thick-walled, distoseptate, one septate, not constricted at the septum, ellipsoidal to broadly ellipsoidal. Appendages present, one polar appendage coiled inside a globose sheath connected with the ascospore by a hyaline rib and the appendage swell in water to form irregular amorphous large structure 20.3–59 × 14–24.2 μm.

Notes:— Qarounispora grandiappendiculata is characterized by having yellow to orange, superficial or partly immersed, membranous ascomata, one layered peridial wall, semi-persistent asci, one-septate, thick-walled, distoseptate, hyaline to yellow-orange, broadly ellipsoidal ascospores with amorphous, large and irregular one polar appendage.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Qarounispora grandiappendiculata (SUMCC H-17009, holotype) a Ascomata on natural wood. b Squash of ascoma and asci mounted in seawater. c,d Magnified part of peridium shows peridial cells in surface view. d–g Variously shaped asci. h–k Variously shaped ascospores with amorphous polar appendage. Scale bars: a–b = 100 μm, c–k = 20 μm.