Pseudogymnoascus papyriferae Zhi.Y. Zhang, Y.F. Han & Z.Q. Liang, 2023

Zhang, Zhi-Yuan, Li, Xin, Chen, Wan-Hao, Liang, Jian-Dong & Han, Yan-Feng, 2023, Culturable fungi from urban soils in China II, with the description of 18 novel species in Ascomycota (Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Leotiomycetes and Sordariomycetes), MycoKeys 98, pp. 167-220 : 167

Pseudogymnoascus papyriferae Zhi.Y. Zhang, Y.F. Han & Z.Q. Liang sp. nov.

Fig. 17

Etymology.

Referring to the type strain isolated from epiphytic soil of Broussonetia papyrifera L’Heritier ex Ventenat.

Type.

China: Shaanxi Province, Hanzhong City 33°07'65"N, 107°03'13"E, from epiphytic soil of B. papyrifera , Sep 2018, Z.Y. Zhang (HMAS 351878 holotype designated here, ex-type living culture CGMCC 3.20877 = GZUIFR 22.020) .

Description.

Culture characteristics (14 d at 25 °C): Colony on PDA 13-15 mm diam., light orange (6A4) to white (6A1) from centre to margin, slightly raised, cottony, floccose, nearly round, margin slightly undulated, abundant exudates in the form of transparent, cinnamon-colour droplets of large size, diffusible pigments absent; reverse rust brown (6E8) to white (6A1). Colony on MEA 13-14 mm diam., white (2A1), hyphae kink into bundles, slightly raised in the centre, nearly round, exudates and diffusible pigments absent; reverse white (2A1) to yellowish-white (2A2) from margin to centre. Colony on OA 14-15 mm diam., white (1A1), powdery with dense in the middle with sparse margins, slightly raised at the centre, nearly round, margin slightly undulate, exudates absent, producing a diffusible faint white pigment; reverse white (1A1).

Hyphae branched, septate, hyaline, smooth, 1.0-2.5 μm diam. Sometimes lateral hyphae end in chains of a barrel- or fusiform shape with blunt-ended arthroconidia, sometimes bearing aleurioconidia, sessile or stalked. Conidiophores abundant, solitary, erect, arising in acute angles with the main axis, hyaline, smooth, usually bearing verticils of two to four branches arising from the stipe at an acute angle. Aleurioconidia obovoid, pyriform to subglobose, with a broad truncated basal scar, 3.5-6.0 × 2.5-4.0 µm (av. 4.4 × 3.5 μm, n = 50), in conidiophores separated by connective cells. Intercalary conidia drum-shaped, barrel-shaped, pyriform to elongated, with a broad truncated scar at the basal or both ends, 3.5-5.5 × 2.5-3.5 µm (av. 5.2 × 3.4 μm, n = 50). Arthroconidia rare, cylindrical to slightly inflated in the middle, 2.5-4.5 × 2.0-2.5 µm (av. 3.4 × 2.2 μm, n = 50). Arthroconidia chain or separated by connective cells that undergo rhexolysis, occasionally bearing sessile conidia. Sexual morph unknown.

Notes.

Pseudogymnoascus papyriferae is nested in clade B (Fig. 14 ). Clade B is composed of three species ( P. shaanxiensis , P. australis and P. griseus ) and six other strains that remain unidentified species ( Minnis and Lindner 2013; Zhang et al. 2020b, 2021b; Villanueva et al. 2021). Phylogenetic analysis clearly shows that P. papyriferae forms a distinct lineage (Fig. 14 ). Pseudogymnoascus papyriferae can be distinguished from P. shaanxiensis by the presence of arthroconidia ( Zhang et al. 2020b). Pseudogymnoascus papyriferae can be differentiated from P. australis by the shape of intercalary conidia (drum-shaped, barrel-shaped, pyriform to elongated vs. subglobose to elongated and barrel-shaped, respectively) and rarely arthroconidia ( Villanueva et al. 2021). In addition, P. papyriferae differs from P. griseus in the size and shape of its intercalary conidia (3.5-5.5 × 2.5-3.5 µm, drum-shaped, barrel-shaped, pyriform to elongated vs. 3.5-9.6 × 1.7-3.9 µm, subglobose to elongated and barrel-shaped, respectively) ( Villanueva et al. 2021).

Figures

Figure 14. Concatenated phylogeny of the ITS, LSU, EF 1 A, RPB 2 and MCM 7 gene regions of species in Thelebolaceae. Ninety-nine strains are used. The tree is rooted in Leuconeurospora pulcherrima (CBS 343.76) and Leuconeurospora sp. (15 PA 04 and 02 NH 04). The tree topology of the BI was similar to the ML analysis. Bayesian posterior probability (≥ 0.7) and ML bootstrap values (≥ 70 %) are indicated along branches (PP / ML). Novel species are in blue and bold font, new isolates are in blue and " T " indicates type derived sequences.

Figure 17. Pseudogymnoascus papyriferae (from ex-holotype CGMCC 3.20877) a-c upper and reverse views of cultures on PDA, MEA and OA 14 d after inoculation d-i conidiophore and conidia. Scale bars: 10 µm (d-i).