Monascus ruber Tiegh., Bull. Soc.

Melo, Roger Fagner Ribeiro, Maia, Leonor Costa & Miller, Andrew Nicholas, 2017, Coprophilous ascomycetes with passive ascospore liberation from Brazil, Phytotaxa 295 (2), pp. 159-172 : 166

7. Monascus ruber Tiegh., Bull. Soc. bot. Fr. 31: 226 (1884)

( Plate 1 , Fig. 17)

Colonies in CYA25 with fast growth, 25–35 mm diam. in seven days, appressed, velutinous to floccose, with fimbriated margin, initially white, then light brown, progressively darker with cleistothecia maturation, occasionally reddish. Reverse brown to dark brown, smooth. Mycelium abundant, consisting of hyaline, slender, branched, smooth-walled hyphae, 4–5.5 μm diam. Ascomata non-ostiolate, gregarious, superficial, usually globose, occasionally subglobose, flattened horizontally, light brown to amber, 25–45(–57.5) μm diam., each supported by a stalk-like hypha. Ascomatal wall two-layered, prosenchymatous, translucent, composed of an outer layer with often merging hyphae, covering an inner semitransparent vesicle, thick-walled, with light brown to amber cells, major axis 2.5–5 μm, collapsing or not when mounted. Asci 8-spored, globose, strongly evanescent. Ascospores 1-celled, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 5–7.5 × 3.5–4.5 μm. Conidia single or in short chains, globose to pyriform thick-walled, hyaline, smooth, 9.5–15.5 μm diam. or 10–17.5 × 8.5–15 μm.

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco ( UFRPE), Recife, on cattle dung, 15 Mar 2013, R.F. R. Melo ( URM 86638a!, 86638b!, 86638c!, 86638d!).

Habitat: —Recorded on plant material, in rumen contents of herbivores, industrial waste,. It is uncommon on herbivore dung.

Distribution:—Worldwide.

Notes:— Monascus ruber is a common cleistothecial ascomycete, primarily known for its application in food industry, particularly in China and Japan. It differs from M. sanguineus P.F. Cannon, Abdullah & B.A. Abbas (1995: 661) mainly by the soluble pigment production, usually absent, brown when present.

Figures

PLATE 1. Coprophilous ascomycetes with passive ascospore liberation recorded in Brazil. Corynascus sepedonium 1. Ascoma, 2. peridium, 3. ascospores and 4. conidium. Kernia nitida 5. Ascoma on dung and 6. hair tip. Leuconeurospora pulcherrima 7. Ascoma, 8. peridium and 9. ascospores. Lophotrichus bartlettii 10. Ascoma on dung, 11. mounted and 12. asci. Melanospora damnosa 13. Ascoma on dung and 14. mounted. M. zamiae 15. Ascoma in mounting and 16. ascospores. Monascus ruber 17. Ascoma in mounting. Mycoarachis inversa 18. Ascoma on incubation paper and 19. mounted, 20. asci and 21. ascospores. Pseudoallescheria boydii 22. Ascoma in mounting, 23. ascus and 24. mature ascospores. Thielavia terrestris 25. Ascomata on dung. 26. mature ascospores. Tripterosporella pakistani 27. Ascoma in mounting, 28. ascus and 29. mature ascospore. Zopfiella erostrata 30. Cleistothecium in mounting. Z. longicaudata 31. Cleistothecium in mounting. Scale bars: 1, 6, 9, 16, 17=10 μm. 2, 21= 2.5 μm. 3, 4, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26= 5 μm. 5=200 μm. 7, 11, 14=50 μm. 8, 12, 13= 20 μm. 15, 18=100 μm. 19=25 μm. 10, 25= 300 μm. Figure: R.F.R. Melo.