Xylaria fusispora H.X. Ma, Lar.N. Vasilyeva & Yu Li, 2013

Ma, Hai-Xia, Vasilyeva, Larissa & Li, Yu, 2013, The genus Xylaria (Xylariaceae) in the south of China- 6. A new Xylaria species based on morphological and molecular characters, Phytotaxa 147 (2), pp. 48-54 : 51

Xylaria fusispora H.X. Ma, Lar.N. Vasilyeva & Yu Li , sp. nov. ( Fig.1 )

Mycobank: MB 800828

Etymology.— fusispora (Lat.) : referring to fusiform ascospores.

Holotype. — CHINA. Guizhou Province, Fanjing Mountain , 27°40′N & 109°10′E, alt. 2000 m, on rotten wood in mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests, 21 Aug 2010, H.-X. Ma ( HMJAU 23625 ).

Sexual state.—Stromata unbranched or branched, conical to cylindrical with acute sterile apices, on short or long glabrous blackish stipes, 0.6–3 cm in total length and 1.5–4 mm diam; externally white to yellow with black ostioles, internally white, often yellowish brown at center; texture hard. Surface roughened by ostioles, perithecial contours and peeling layer. Perithecia spherical, 500 − 600 µm diam. Ostioles slightly prominent, inconspicuous. Asci not intact, the spore-bearing part 135–145 × 14–16 µm, with apical ring not bluing in Melzer’s reagent, 5.5–7 µm high and 4.5–5 µm broad. Ascospores brown, dark-brown to black, unicellular, fusoid-equilateral or fusiform, with narrowly rounded ends, one end bearing a tiny hyaline rounded appendage up to 1.5–2.5 µm high × 2.5–3.5 µm broad, smooth, (26.5–)28–30(–31.5) × 13.5–14.5 µm, with germ slit straight to slightly sigmoid, slightly less than the spore length.

Culture. —Colonies on OA covering 9 cm diam. Petri plate in 2–3 wk, with mycelium at first velvety, white, azonate, with regular margins, then with moderately radiating furrows, becoming overlain with irregular grey blackish small patches at the edge of the agar plate. Reverse uncolored. Stromata and anamorph not produced.

Additional specimens examined. — CHINA. Guizhou Province, Fanjing Mountain, 27°35′N & 109°20′E, alt. 1950 m, on rotten wood in mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests, 21 August 2010, H.-X. Ma ( HMJAU 23606 , 23617 ); Fanjing Mountain, 27°30′N & 109°15′E, alt. 1900 m, on rotten wood in mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests, 21 Aug 2010, H.-X. Ma ( HMJAU 23620 , 23622 ); Fanjing Mountain , 27°30′N & 109°15′E, alt. 1900 m, on rotten wood in mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests, 13 Aug 2012, X.-L. Wu (Cel. 1198) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Xylaria fusispora (from holotype): a. Stromata; b. Stromatal surface; c. Ascospores; d. Asci; e. Ascospore bearing appendage; f. Germ slit; g. Ascus apical ring; h. Ascospore by scanning-electron microscopy; i. Colony on OA after 4 weeks of incubation. Scale bars: a = 5 mm, b = 0.5 mm, c,d = 20 µm, e,f = 5 µm, g,i = 15 µm.