Amphisphaeria hongheensis R.M. Liu & Karun., 2024

Liu, Rui-Meng, Wang, Hao-Han, Zhang, Gui-Qing, Dai, Dong-Qin, Elgorban, Abdallah M., Karunarathna, Samantha C. & Tibpromma, Saowaluck, 2024, Amphisphaeria hongheensis sp. nov. (Amphisphaeriaceae, Amphisphaeriales) from Yunnan Province, China, Phytotaxa 670 (4), pp. 273-284 : 278-279

Amphisphaeria hongheensis R.M. Liu & Karun. sp. nov. ( FIGURE 2 )

Index Fungorum number: IF902583

Holotype: — GMB1135

Etymology:— The epithet ‘hongheensis’ is derived from Honghe County, where the holotype was collected.

Saprobic on the branches of an unidentified woody plant. Sexual morph: Ascomata 430–750 μm high, 360–640 μm diam., (x = 615 × 500 μm, n = 10), dark brown to black, immersed, visible as a black oval-shaped sometimes, solitary or aggregated, subglobose or oblate, with an opened ostiole. Ostioles centric, slightly papillate, 130−170 μm high × 85–145 μm diam, conical or circular, ostiolar canal periphysate. Peridium 25−50 µm wide, comprises multiple layers of cells of textura primatica, the outer layer is made up of brown and small light brown to reddish-brown thick-walled horn cells, and the inner layer is made up of hyaline to pale gray parenchyma horn cells. Paraphyses 2−5 μm (x = 3.2 μm, n = 20) wide, cellular, simple, occasionally septate, hyaline, guttulate. Asci 175−265 × 10−15 µm (x = 200 × 11 μm, n = 20), 8-spored, unitunicate, long cylindrical, with 15−55 µm long basal stipes, with bifurcate, apically rounded, with “J+” apical ring in Melzer’s reagent. Ascospores 20−40 × 5−11 μm (x = 28 × 10 μm, n = 20), overlapping uni-seriate, oblong to reniform, straight to slightly curved, 1-septate, slightly constricted at the septum, guttulate, hyaline when young, and become light brown at mature, smooth and thick-walled, lacking mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, on an unidentified woody plant, 01 September 2023, Gui-Qing Zhang & Rui-Meng Liu, RM 50 (GMB1135, holotype), Ibid. ( MHZU 24- 0515, isotype).

Notes: The multi-gene phylogenetic analyses based on LSU, ITS, rpb 2, and tub 2 gene regions showed that our new collection (GMB1135 (holotype) and MHZU 24-0515 (isotype )) belonged to the genus Amphipharia ( FIGURE 1 ). Both strains were grouped as the sister lineage to Amphisphaeria neoaquatica ( MFLUCC 14-0045, ex-type) with high statistical values (95% MLBP bootstrap and 1.00 BYPP) ( FIGURE 1 ). Morphologically, our collection A. hongheensis can be obviously distinguished from A. neoaquatica by its ostioles and “ J +” apical ring. More details of morphological differences between our new taxon and A. neoaquatica are listed in TABLE 3. In addition, A. neoaquatica was reported from submerged decaying wood in a freshwater stream in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, whereas our new collection originated from terrestrial decaying woody plants in Yunnan Province, Southwestern China. Therefore, based on both morpho-molecular results, we introduce a new species, Amphipharia hongheensis .

Figures

FIGURE 1. The phylogenetic tree from the best scoring of the RAxML analysis based on combined (LSU, ITS, rpb2, and tub2) is rooted with Bartalinia pini (CBS 143891) and B. pondoensis (CBS 125525). Bootstrap values for maximum likelihood (MLBP) and Bayesian posterior probabilities (BYPP) equal to or greater than 60% and 0.95 are given at the respective branches. Hyphen (-) means a value lower than 60 % (MLBP) or 0.95 (BYPP). The newly generated strains are indicated in bold red. The ex-type strains are noted with “T”.

FIGURE 2. Amphisphaeria hongheensis (GMB1135, holotype).a–bAscomata on the dead woody plant. c–dVertical sections of ascomata. e Ostiole. f Peridium. g Paraphysis. h–k Asci in water. l Ascus in Melzer’s reagent. m “J+” apical apparatus. n–s Ascospores. Scale bars: b = 100 μm; c–d = 500 μm; e = 200 μm; f = 20 μm; g = 5 μm; h–l = 50 μm; m–s = 10 μm.