Cladosporium benschii P.P. Costa, A.W.C. Rosado & O.L. Pereira

Costa, Pricila P., Rosado, André W. C. & Pereira, Olinto L., 2022, Six new species of Cladosporium associated with decayed leaves of native bamboo (Bambusoideae) in a fragment of Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Phytotaxa 560 (1), pp. 1-29 : 17-19

Cladosporium benschii P.P. Costa, A.W.C. Rosado & O.L. Pereira sp. nov. (Figure 4)

MycoBank: MB824727

Systematic position: Fungi, Ascomycota, Pezizomycotina, Dothideomycetes, Dothideomycetidae, Cladosporiales, Cladosporiaceae

Etymology:—Name in honor of Konstanze Bensch for her extensive work on Cladosporium .

Colonies on PDA attaining 73 mm diam, greenish glaucous, flat, dense, felty; reverse similar to surface. Colonies on MEA attaining 70 mm diam, greenish glaucous, flat, dense, felty; reverse dark green to dark bluish-green. Colonies on OA attaining 57 mm diam, greenish glaucous to isabelline, woolly, lavender grey cottony patches at the center, greenish glaucous to olivaceous buff, velvety, furrowed at the border; reverse olivaceous grey. Colonies on SNA attaining 57 mm diam, buff to vinaceous buff, flat, sparse; reverse buff. Mycelium sparse, 1.95–5.51 µm wide, septate, occasionally somewhat swollen and slightly constricted at the septum, subhyaline to pale brown, brown darker close to the conidiophore, irregularly rough-walled. Conidiophores solitary, macronematous, 30.56–305.93 × 2.49–3.62 µm, arising laterally from the hypha, erect or flexuous, cylindrical-oblong, cylindrical attenuated toward the apex to sometimes filiform, non-geniculate, pale brown to brown, sometimes subhyaline, unbranched, septate 1–13, conspicuous, walls slightly thickened, verruculose, rarely micronematous, lateral, 20.69–36.16 × 2.18–3.38 µm, pale brown, 1 apical locus. Conidiogenous cells integrated, terminal, cylindrical oblong or cylindrical slightly attenuated to apex, non-geniculate, sometimes swollen at apex, in terminal cells apex usually head-like swollen with pronounced subdenticulate to denticulate loci crowded at the tip, 11.13–37.59 × 2.32–3.62 µm, pale brown, with 1–5 loci at apex, conidiogenous loci non-protuberant or only slightly so, rarely thickened and darkened. Ramoconidia absent. Secondary ramoconidia oblong-ellipsoid, cylindrical, cylindrical-ovoid, 2–3 loci, non-protuberant, darkened, 5.80–13.56 × 2.65–3.84 µm, 0–1 septate, brown, pale brown to subhyaline. Conidia numerous, catenate, acrogenous, ellipsoid, limoniform, ovoid, subglobose, pale brown to brown, 3.85–6.09 × 2.04–3.04 µm, terminal conidia obovoid, globose, and subglobose, 3.01–4.82 × 2.08–2.96 µm. Microcyclic conidiogenesis rarely occurs, with conidia forming secondary conidiophores.

Type:— Brazil. Minas Gerais: Araponga, at “ Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro ”, isolated from decayed leaf of Aulonemiae amplissima (Poaceae) , March 15, 2016 (holotype VIC 44412 , ex-type culture COAD 2263) .

GenBank: MT373128 (ACT), MT680207 (TEF1-α), MZ318436 (rDNA-ITS)

Additional specimen examined:— BRAZIL. Minas Gerais:Araponga, at “Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro”, isolated from decayed leaf of Aulonemia amplissima (Poaceae) , 15 March 2016, (living culture COAD 2265).

Notes: — Cladosporium benschii is phylogenetically close to C. tenuissimum but forms a separate clade that evidences the existence of a new species. Both have cylindrical-oblong conidiophores, sometimes filiform, pale brown to brown, unbranched, with terminal conidiogenous cells usually head-like swollen with pronounced subdenticulate to denticulate loci crowded at the tip ( C. tenuissimum up to 8, while C. benschii up to 5). Cladosporium benschii differs from this species in having limoniform and subglobose intercalary conidia, measuring 3.85−6.09 × 2.04−3.04 µm, while at C. tenuissimum are ovoid, ellipsoid or subcylindrical, reach 4−12(−17) × (1−)2−3(−4.5) μm µm length. The presence of ramoconidia was reported in the last species, while in C. benschii has not been observed.