Atractilina parasitica (G. Winter) Deighton & Piroz., Mycol. Pap. 128: 34, 1972

Bermudez-Cova, Miguel A., Hofmann, Tina A., Yorou, Nourou S. & Piepenbring, Meike, 2024, Systematic revision of species of Atractilina and Spiropes hyperparasitic on Meliolales (Ascomycota) in the tropics, MycoKeys 103, pp. 167-213 : 167

Atractilina parasitica (G. Winter) Deighton & Piroz., Mycol. Pap. 128: 34, 1972

Fig. 1

Arthrosporium parasiticum ≡ Arthrosporium parasiticum G. Winter, Hedwigia 25: 103, 1886.

Arthrosporium parasiticum ≡ Arthrobotryum parasiticum (G. Winter) Hansf., Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 155: 64, 1943.

Isariopsis penicillata = Isariopsis penicillata Ellis & Everh., Bull. Torrey bot. Club 22: 438, 1895.

Phaeoisariopsis penicillata ≡ Phaeoisariopsis penicillata (Ellis & Everh.) S.C. Jong & E.F. Morris, Mycopath. Mycol. appl. 34: 271, 1968.

Arthrobotryum tecomae = Arthrobotryum tecomae Henn., Hedwigia 43: 397, 1904.

Arthrobotryum caudatum = Arthrobotryum caudatum Syd. & P. Sydow, Etudes sur la Flore du Bas et Moyen Congo 3(1): 22, 1909.

Arthrobotryum dieffenbachiae = Arthrobotryum dieffenbachiae F. Stevens, Bot. Gaz. 65: 237, 1918.

Atractilina callicarpae = Atractilina callicarpae Dearn. & Barthol., Mycologia 16: 175, 1924.

Podosporium pallidum = Podosporium pallidum Pat., Scient. Surv. P. Rico 8(1) Bot.: 103, 1926.

Eriomycopsis bosquieae = Eriomycopsis bosquieae Hansf., Bothalia 4(2): 466, 1942.

Arthrobotryum deightonii = Arthrobotryum deightonii Hansf., Mycol. Pap. 15: 218, 1946.

Malacaria meliolicola = Malacaria meliolicola Syd., Annls. Mycol. 28(1/2): 69, 1930. New synonym proposed in this study.

Paranectria flagellata = Paranectria flagellata Hansf., Proc. Linn. Soc. London 153(1): 28, 1941. New synonym proposed in this study.

Malacaria flagellata ≡ Malacaria flagellata (Hansf.) Hansf., Mycol. Pap. 15: 128, 1946. New synonym proposed in this study.

Description.

Colonies effuse, rust brown or pale brown, with hyphae that form large, erect, dark synnemata clearly visible under the stereomicroscope, but sometimes only loose unstalked tufts around the tips of the setae of the meliolalean host. Hyphae superficial, branched, septate, thin-walled, 1-2.5 µm wide, smooth. Conidiophores may form straw-coloured or pale olivaceous synnemata up to 1.5 mm long, 40 µm wide at the basal stalk-like part. Sometimes the synnemata grow around and up the setae of the meliolalean host. Individual conidiophores straight or sometimes flexuous, cylindrical, 2.5-5 µm thick towards the apex, pale olivaceous brown, with denticles. Conidia solitary, straight or slightly curved, fusiform, truncate at the base, tapering towards the apex and often terminating in a little bulbous swelling, 1 to mostly 3 septate, thin-walled, variable in size, (17-)30-37(-80) × (3.5-)7-8.5 µm, at first more or less colourless, at maturity becoming pale straw coloured, minutely rough-walled. As seen by SEM, the ornamentation of the surface of the conidia is distinctly reticulated, with thin networks and no ridges.

Specimens examined.

On Meliola sp. on living leaves of Opilia celtidifolia ( Opiliaceae ), Benin, Campus University of Abomey-Calavi, botanical garden, 6°25'7"N, 2°20'34"E, 24 m a.s.l., 9 February 2022, M. A. Bermúdez-Cova, A. Tabé, D. Dongnima, O.P. Agbani, M. Piepenbring, N.S. Yorou, MB127 (UNIPAR, M); on Meliola clerodendricola on living leaves of Clerodendrum capitatum ( Lamiaceae ), Benin, Abomey-Calavi, Zopah, 6°30'8"N, 2°20'24"E, 37 m a.s.l., 12 February 2022, M. A. Bermúdez-Cova, A. Tabé, D. Dongnima, O.P. Agbani, M. Piepenbring, N.S. Yorou, MB133; on Meliola clerodendricola on living leaves of Clerodendrum capitatum , Benin, Allada, Sékou, 6°38'56"N, 2°11'38"E, 48 m a.s.l., 12 February 2022, M. A. Bermúdez-Cova, A. Tabé, D. Dongnima, O.P. Agbani, M. Piepenbring, N.S. Yorou, MB136 (UNIPAR, M, GenBank accession number: OR804686); on Meliola sp. on living leaves of Pterocarpus santalinoides ( Fabaceae ), Benin, Lokoli, border of forest, 7°3'41"N, 2°15'26"E, 22 m a.s.l., 20 February 2022, M. A. Bermúdez-Cova, A. Tabé, D. Dongnima, L. Konetche, M. Piepenbring, R. Hounkarin, MB160 (M); on Meliola sp. on living leaves of Coffea arabica ( Rubiaceae ), Benin, Attogon, Niaouli, CRA-Sud center, 6°44'24"N, 2°8'25"E, 122 m a.s.l., 28 February 2022, M. A. Bermúdez-Cova, A. Tabé, I. Agonglo, M. Piepenbring, N.S. Yorou, O.P. Agbani, MB178 (UNIPAR, M, GenBank accession numbers: OR804685 and OR804687); on Meliola sp. on living leaves of Coffea arabica , Benin, Atlantique, Attogon, Niaouli Forest , 6°44'23"N, 2°8'26"E, 119 m a.s.l., 19 September 2022, A. Krauß, A. Tabé, O. Koukol, N.S. Yorou, AK06H (UNIPAR, M, GenBank accession number: OR804684); on Meliola sp. on living leaves of Clerodendrum capitatum , Benin, Atlantique, Attogon, Pahou Forest , 6°22'56"N, 2°9'35"E, 13 m a.s.l., 6 October 2022, A. Krauß, A. Tabé, O. Koukol, N.S. Yorou, AK61 .

Additional specimens examined.

On Meliola lasiotricha on leaves of unknown plant host, Puerto Rico, 1926, M.B. Ellis (IMI 130722, type specimen of Podosporium pallidum ); On Meliola clerodendri on leaves of Clerodendrum cyrtophyllum , Taiwan, 1938, W. Yamamoto (IMI 31921b, type specimen of Atractilina parasitica ) .

Illustrations.

This species was illustrated by Deighton and Pirozynski (1972).

Known hosts and distribution.

On colonies of Amazonia spp., Asteridiella spp., Irenopsis spp. and Meliola spp. on living leaves of various plants in Congo, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mauritius, Nigeria, Perú, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone, St. Thomé, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, U.S.A. and Venezuela. Only one single collection on Balladyna sp. ( Balladynaceae , Dothideomycetes) as a fungal host ( Deighton and Pirozynski 1972). Atractilina parasitica is reported here for the first time for Benin.

Notes.

Only two species of the genus Atractilina with hyperparasitic lifestyle are known, namely A. asterinae and A. parasitica ( Deighton and Pirozynski 1972). Atractilina asterinae differs from A. parasitica by the presence of 3-10 septate, thick-walled conidia.

The specimens of A. parasitica collected on leaves of Coffea arabica (MB 178, AK4H, AK06H) were found growing together with pseudothecia of Malacaria meliolicola Syd. ( Tubeufiales , Dothideomycetes). According to Hansford (1941, as Paranectria flagellata ; 1946), M. flagellata is most probably the perfect state of A. parasitica . The specimens collected by Hansford were also growing on coffee leaves. The latter and the fact that the DNA sequences we obtained from A. parasitica (GenBank accession numbers: OR804684, OR804686, OR804685 and OR804687) and M. meliolicola (GenBank accession numbers: OR805247 and OR805248) clustered together in one single strongly-supported clade (Fig. 22 ), confirm the anamorph-teleomorph connection between both species. For an updated species description of M. meliolicola , see Bermúdez-Cova et al. (2023b).

Figures

Figure 1. Atractilina parasitica (MB 127, MB 136) a synnemata (gold spots) on colonies of Meliola sp. (black spots) on a leaf of Opilia celtidifolia b synnemata of (gold spots) on colonies of Meliola clerodendricola (black spots) on a leaf of Clerodendrum capitatum c synnemata d conidiophores drawn in optical section. The thickness of the wall is indicated only in the drawing in the middle e conidia shown in optical section f-i as seen by SEM f conidiophores with denticles g a denticle at the tip of a conidiophore h conidium i bulbous swelling at the tip of a conidium. Scale bars: 1.5 mm (b); 1 mm (c); 5 μm (d, e, i); 8 μm (f); 1 μm (g); 6 μm (h).

Figure 22. Phylogenetic tree inferred from a Maximum Likelihood analysis of nuc LSU rDNA sequences of members of the Dothideomycetes, including new sequences of Atractilina parasitica and Malacaria meliolicola (written with bold letters). The tree is rooted with sequences of species of the orders Capnodiales and Mycosphaerellales. Bootstrap values are indicated above the branches. Sequences downloaded from GenBank are given with accession numbers.