Marasasiomyces karoo (B. Sutton & Marasas) Crous, 2015

Crous, Pedro W., Müller, Michael M., Sánchez, Romina M., Giordano, Lucrecia, Bianchinotti, M. Virginia, Anderson, Freda E. & Groenewald, Johannes Z., 2015, Resolving Tiarosporella spp. allied to Botryosphaeriaceae and Phacidiaceae, Phytotaxa 202 (2), pp. 73-93 : 86

Marasasiomyces karoo (B. Sutton & Marasas) Crous , comb. et stat. nov. MycoBank MB811253

Basionym: Tiarosporella graminis var. karoo B. Sutton & Marasas, Transactions of the British Mycological Society 67: 73 (1976)

Conidiomata pycnidial, dark brown to black, rostrate with elongated necks, covered in brown, simple, septate, smooth to verruculose setae. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells lining the inner cavity, holoblastic, determinate, cylindrical, hyaline, smooth, 12–18× 1.5–2.5 μm. Conidia solitary, hyaline, smooth, thin-walled, straight, fusiform, apex obtuse, base truncate, 21–28 × 5–8 μm, with a cone-like mucoid apical appendage.

Specimen examined:— SOUTH AFRICA. Cape Province: Colesberg, on dead stems of Eriocephalus sp. , Feb. 1971, W.F.O. Marasas (holotype PREM 44967, isotype IMI 186782, culture ex-type CBS 118718).

Notes:— The peculiar conidiomata with elongated necks, covered in brown setae, was commented on when this fungus was originally described ( Sutton & Marasas 1976), and also illustrated subsequently ( Crous et al. 2006, fig. 7). Furthermore, in a study elucidating the conidiogenesis of this fungus, Roux et al. (1990) did not find any evidence of percurrent proliferation, while this feature is again prominent in Tiarosporella s.str.