Pochonia sinensis Zhi. Y. Zhang & Y. F. Han, sp. nov.

Zhang, Zhi-Yuan, Feng, Yao, Tong, Shuo-Qiu, Ding, Chen-Yu, Tao, Gang & Han, Yan-Feng, 2023, Morphological and phylogenetic characterisation of two new soil-borne fungal taxa belonging to Clavicipitaceae (Hypocreales, Ascomycota), MycoKeys 98, pp. 113-132 : 113

Pochonia sinensis Zhi. Y. Zhang & Y. F. Han, sp. nov.

Fig. 3

Etymology.

After the country of origin.

Type.

Kaili City , Guizhou Province, China; 27°17 ’56’’ N, 108°82 ’68’’ E; isolated from the green belt soil in July 2022; Zhi-Yuan Zhang (holotype ZY H-22.009, ex-holotype ZY 22.009, ibid., ZY 22.010) .

Geographical distribution.

Guizhou Province, China.

Description.

Culture characteristics (14 days at 25 °C): Colonies on PDA fast-growing, reaching 74-77 mm in diameter, white, flat, fluffy to flocculent, margin identified; reverse: white. Colonies on MEA 67 mm in diameter, white, flat, compact, fluffy to flocculent, margin identified; reverse: white. Colonies on SNA 59-60 mm in diameter, white, aerial mycelia sparse, flat, flocculent, nearly round, margin regular; reverse: white. Colonies on OA 58 mm in diameter, white, aerial mycelia sparse, flat, felty, nearly round; reverse: white.

Hyphae hyaline, smooth, branched, septate, 0.5-1.5 μm in diameter. Phialides produced from prostrate aerial hyphae, solitary or rarely in whorls of 2-3, slender, tapering towards the tip, 5.5-51.0 × 0.5-1.5 µm (av. 22.0 × 1.0, n = 50). Conidia in small globose heads at the apex of the phialides. Conidia ovoid, sometimes subglobose or ellipsoidal, smooth-walled, one-celled, adhering in globose heads, 3.0-4.5 × 2.0-3.0 µm (av. 3.6 × 2.5, n = 50). Swollen hyphae not observed. Dictyochlamydospores not observed. Crystals absent. Sexual morph undetermined.

Notes.

The multi-locus phylogenetic analyses (Fig. 1 ) and morphological characteristics showed that ZY 22.009 and ZY 22.010 represent a new species of Pochonia . Morphologically, P. sinensis shared similar morphological characters with P. globispora and P. boninensis , but does not produce dictyochlamydospores ( Zare and Gams 2007; Nonaka et al. 2013). However, P. sinensis can be easy distinguished from P. globispora and P. boninensis , based on the ovoid conidia and the absence of irregularly swollen hyphae ( Zare and Gams 2007; Nonaka et al. 2013).

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogram based on the Maximum Likelihood (ML) analysis using the SSU, ITS, LSU, RPB 2 and EF 1 A sequences of Clavicipitaceae. The ML bootstrap values (≥ 70 %) and the Bayesian posterior probability values (≥ 0.70) are indicated along the branches (BP / ML). The new taxa are highlighted in bold.

Figure 3. Morphology of Pochonia sinensis sp. nov. a-d colony on PDA, MEA, SNA and OA after 14 d at 25 ° C (upper surface and lower surface) e-j phialides, conidia. Scale bars: 10 μm (e-j).