Perichaena microspora Penz. & Lister, 1898

Song, Wen-Long, Lin, Di, Li, Min, Du, Que & Chen, Shuang-Lin, 2022, Four new records of myxomycetes from China, Phytotaxa 567 (2), pp. 181-188 : 186-187

Perichaena microspora Penz. & Lister , in Penzig, Myxomyc. Fl. Buitenzorg 76, 1898 ( Fig. 4 )

Fruiting bodies grouped, spherical or nearly spherical sporangia or long strip or vermicular plasmodiocarp, or long or short, sometimes reticulated, yellowish brown, 0.2–2.0 mm in diameter. Peridium single-layer, simple, membranose, yellow, with smooth surface, inner surface with grains of material close to the base of the sporocarp. Capillitium loose, the upper end is connected with the peridium, canary yellow, branched and anastomosed, densely spiny, 1.5–3.0 μm in diameter. Spores golden in mass, canary by microscope, warted, 6.5–8.0 μm in diameter.

Specimens examined:— CHINA. Hubei Province: Wufeng County, Houhe Nature Reserve, 30°04′24″N, 110°36′36″E, elevation 1102 m, on dead leaves, collected on 8 Apr 2019, Min Li , cultured in moist chamber on 18 Apr 2019, harvested on 20 May 2019 ( HFNNU 3469 , HFNNU 3456 ); Wufeng County , Houhe Nature Reserve , 30°04′24″N, 110°36′36″E, elevation 1102 m, on dead leaves, collected on 8 Apr 2019, Min Li, cultured in moist chamber on 18 Apr 2019, harvested on 12 Jun 2019 ( HFNNU 3532 , HFNNU 3534 ) .

Distribution:— Liberia and America (GBIF), Cuba, Costa Rica and Brazil ( Cavalcanti et al. 2016, Lado & de Basanta 2008), Philippines ( Macabago et al. 2012), and China (this study).

Comments:— Perichaena currently encompasses 38 species ( Lado 2005 –2022). Species belonging to the genus form sessile or stalked sporangia with pale capillitium covered with various types of ornamentation in the form of warts, spines or rings, but never spirals, and with pale spores usually covered with warts or spines ( Ronikier et al. 2013). P. microspora as a new Chinese record is morphologically almost identical to the description for this species ( Macabago et al. 2012, Cavalcanti et al. 2016). The characteristic small spores of P. microspora have not been observed in any other species of this genus. The average spore size of P. microspora in this study and a reference ( Cavalcanti et al. 2016) is about 7 μm. The most frequently measured value for spores of other species in this genus ( Martin & Alexopoulos 1969) is 10 μm. Our study is the first to use SEM to photograph and analyze this species, so as to more clearly describe the morphological characteristics of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Morphological characters of Perichaena microspora. a, b. Sporangia on litter. c, d. Capillitium bifurcated (SEM). e. Densely spiny on the surface of capillitium (arrows, SEM). f. Capillitium (LM). g. Spores (LM). h, i. Inner surface with grains of material (SEM). j, k. Spore showing the warts (SEM). Scale bars: a, b = 1 mm, c–g = 10 μm, h = 5μm, i–k = 1 μm.