Pandanicola graminella comb. nov. fromFestuca filiformis in the Canary Islands, West Africa

Anthostomella graminella has been re-examined and ascomata were found to be immersed beneath a clypeus. Asci were unitunicate, broad cylindrical, and lacked an apical apparatus, while ascospores were inequilaterally ellipsoidal, 1–2 seriate, brown to light brown and unicellular, with bipolar germ pores. Based on these characters,A. graminella is transferred toPandanicola. An illustration of this species and a tabulated comparison of this species withPandanicola calocarpa is given.     

Two new species ofConiochaeta with a cephalothecoid peridium wall

Two new species ofConiochaeta, isolated from Japanese soils, are described and illustrated:C. cephalothecoides, which is characterized by dark brown ascomata clothed with short setae, cylindrical asci and ovoid to almond-shaped or pyriform ascospores with a longitudinal germ slit; andC. dumosa, which is characterized by dark brown ascomata clothed with short setae and dense hyphal hairs, cylindrical asci and ellipsoid-fusoid ascospores with a longitudinal germ slit. These species are distinguished from most species of the genus by the unique cephalothecoid peridium of their ascomata. The associated anamorphs of both species are assignable to the form-genusLecythophora.     

Three new species of Chaetomium from soil

Chaetomium macrostiolatum sp. nov., Chaetomium olivicolor sp. nov. and Chaetomium tarraconensis sp. nov. isolated from Nigerian, Indian, and Spanish soils respectively, are described and illustrated. The first species is characterized by ascomata with a very broad ostiole and yellow hairs, and limoniform ascospores; the second by its thermotolerant growth, inconspicuous and short straight ascomatal hairs and fusiform ascospores; and the last by its unusual, irregularly-shaped ascospores and subglobose ascomata with flexuous to undulate, unbranched ascomatal hairs.     

Two new species ofHeleococcum withAcremonium anamorphs

Two new species ofHeleococcum (a cleistothecial nectrioid genus in the Hypocreaceae) are described and illustrated.Heleococcum alatosporum, isolated from Indonesian soil, is recognized by the production of salmon-colored ascomata, cylindrical asci, and hyaline, small, bicellular ascospores with walls that are verruculose and ornamented with longitudinal ridges.Heleococcum inapertum, isolated from Philippine soil, is characterized by yellow ascomata, clavate asci, and pale yellow, middle-sized, bicellular, verruculose to weakly striate ascospores surrounded with a hyaline sheath. Anamorphs of the new species are included inAcremonium. A key to the accepted species of the genus is provided.     

Two new ascomycetes from rainforest litter in Costa Rica

Two new ascomycetes, Boerlagiomyces costaricensis (Pleosporales) and Scopinella musciformis (Sordariales sensu lato), from litter samples collected in rainforests of Costa Rica, are described and illustrated. Boerlagiomyces costaricensis has globose, ostiolate ascomata covered by numerous setae-like hairs; cylindrical, fissitunicate asci without apical structures; and large, fusiform, muriform, hyaline to pale brown ascospores. Scopinella musciformis is characterized by ostiolate ascomata with a few compact clusters of hypha-like hairs distributed on the peridial surface and a long neck; ovate to ellipsoidal unitunicate asci; and small quadrangular ascospores with diagonal germ slits.     

Apiosordaria antarctica and Thielavia antarctica, two new ascomycetes from Antarctica

Two new species of ascomycetes, Apiosordaria antarctica, isolated from soil, and Thielavia antarctica, isolated from a sample of the lichen Usnea cf. aurantio-atra, both collected on King George Island (Antarctica), are described and illustrated. Apiosordaria antarctica is characterized by ostiolate ascomata with agglutinated hairs, eight-spored, uniseriate and cylindrical asci, and two-celled, irregularly navicular ascospores, with an upper cell ornamented with very small warts and with an apical germ pore. Thielavia antarctica is characterized by nonostiolate ascomata, with a thick peridium, eight-spored, cylindrical asci, uniseriate, oblate, ovoid ascospores, a slightly protruding apical germ pore, and a phialidic anamorph.     

A new species ofChaetomium from house dust

A new species ofChaetomium, C. umbratile, is described from Japan. The species is based on three specimens isolated from house dust samples in asthmatic patients' dwellings. It is characterized by long, wavy and irregularly branched terminal hairs, which are intermingled with short straight hairs, and nearly globose to broadly ellipsoidal ascospores with a slightly subapical or sometimes lateral germ pore.     

Corylomyces: a new genus of Sordariales from plant debris in France

The new genus Corylomyces, isolated from the surface of a hazelnut (Corylus avellana) in the French Pyrenees, is described, illustrated and compared with morphologically similar taxa. It is characterised by tomentose, ostiolate ascomata possessing long necks composed of erect to sinuose hairs, and one- or two-celled, opaque, lunate to reniform ascospores. Analyses of the SSU and LSU fragments rDNA gene sequences support its placement in the Lasiosphaeriaceae (Sordariales).     

Two new species ofTalaromyces from Taiwan and Japan

Two new species ofTalaromyces, isolated from soils in Taiwan and Japan, are described and illustrated.Talaromyces eburneus, associated with aGeosmithia anamorph, is characterized by off-white colony on oatmeal agar, small pale yellow ascomata, and subglobose to ovoid ascospores with a smooth wall.Talaromyces muroii is characterized by restricted growth on Czapek agar, luteous ascomata, which are initiated by paired gametangia like those seen in members of the seriesFlavi, ellipsoidal and nearly smooth ascospores, and the absence of an anamorph.     

New and interesting species ofEurotium from Chinese soil

Eurotium taklimakanense, a new species isolated from desert soil in the Taklimakan desert, Xinjiang Province, China, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by light yellow to reddish yellow colonies on Czapek's agar with 70% (w/v) sucrose, yellow ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with conspicuously irregular equatorial crests and tuberculate or verrucose convex surfaces, and anAspergillus anamorph.Eurotium cristatum is also described as a new record from China. It is characterized by light yellow colonies on Czapek's agar with 70% sucrose, yellow ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with two equatorial crests and echinulate convex surfaces, and small tuberculate conidia.     

New and interesting species ofNeosartorya from Brazilian soil

Neosartorya udagawae, a new heterothallic species isolated from Brazilian soil, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by dull green colony on malt extract agar, light yellow large ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with two equatorial or several irregular crests and tuberculate convex surfaces, and with anAspergillus anamorph.Neosartorya aureola is also described as a new record from Brazilian soil.     

A new species ofClohiesia from Hong Kong

Clohiesia lignicola sp. nov. (freshwater ascomycetes) is introduced based on a specimen collected on submerged wood in the Tung Chung River, Hong Kong. Ascomata are clypeate, asci are cylindric-clavate with a relatively massive apical apparatus and ascospores are fusoid-ellipsoidal.Clohiesia lignicola differs fromC. corticola in having wider asci and wider fusoid-ellipsoidal ascospores, and larger ascomata.Clohiesia lignicola is described and illustrated with light micrographs and is also compared with species in the genus,Annulatascus.     

Lanceispora amphibia gen. et sp. nov., a new amphisphaeriaceous ascomycete inhabiting senescent and fallen leaves of mangrove

Lanceispora amphibia gen. et sp. nov. in the Amphisphaeriaceae is described from senescent and fallen leaves ofBruguiera gymnorrhiza in mangrove forests in the Southwest Islands, Japan. The fungus produces immersed ascomata in leaf tissue, cylindrical asci with an apical ring staining blue with iodine, and oblanceolate ascospores with a septum above the middle. Studies on the fungal succession on the mangrove leaves revealed thatL. amphibia infects senescent leaves on the tree and inhabits intertidal fallen leaves, showing the highest frequency of occurrence at the late stage of decomposition. In culture the optimal conditions for hyphal growth were 20 ppt salinity and 30°C, and those for sexual reproduction were 10 ppt salinity and 25°C. Growth at 0 ppt (fresh water) was depressed. The fungus has amphibious habits, growing on the tree and in intertidal water; and it is adapted to the high osmotic conditions in leaf tissues of the mangrove tree and to the subtropical, brackish water environment of mangrove forests.     

Emericella appendiculata, a new species from Chinese soil

Emericella appendiculata, a new species isolated from soil of the Pamire Plateau, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by grayish green non-ostiolate ascomata surrounded by a thick layer of hülle cells, membranaceous peridium, prototunicate asci, violet-brown, lenticular ascospores which are ornamented by two stellate equatorial crests, capitate convex surfaces, and long filiform appendages, and anAspergillus anamorph with biseriate conidiogenous cells.     

Neosartorya sublevispora, a new species of soil-borne Eurotiales

A new species ofNeosartorya, N. sublevispora (anam.Aspergillus sublevisporus), is described and photographed. The species is characterized by non-ostiolate ascomata covered loosely with a pale yellowish hyphal envelope, lenticular ascospores with two low equatorial crests, and subglobose to ellipsoidal, microtuberculate conidia. The ornamentation of ascospores, which is composed of two closely appreassed crests and small even-sized echines on their convex surfaces, particularly serves to distinguish this species from other recognized species. A revised key to all accepted species of the genus is provided.     

A new species ofNeosartorya from Taiwan soil

A new species ofNeosartorya, N. multiplicata (anam.Aspergillus multiplicatus), isolated from soil collected at Houli, Taichung, in Taiwan, is described and illustrated. The species is characterized by its restricted growth on Czapek agar, white ascomata, nearly globose ascospores with ribbed surface ornamentation of several linear ridges, and a limited development of conidia on common media. A key to all accepted species of the genus is provided.     

Conlarium duplumascospora gen. et. sp. nov. and Jobellisia guangdongensis sp. nov. from freshwater habitats in China

Conlarium duplumascospora gen. et. sp. nov. and Jobellisia guangdongensis sp. nov. are described and illustrated from submerged wood collected from Guangdong Province, China. Conlarium duplumascospora is characterized by gregarious, coriaceous and beaked ascomata; cylindrical, unitunicate asci with a bipartite apical ring; biseriate, fusiform, hyaline, 0-5-septate ascospores with or without appendages; and anamorph with muriform conidia. Jobellisia guangdongensis is characterized by globose to subglobose, gregarious and papillate ascomata; three-layered peridium; cylindrical, unitunicate asci with a refractive apical ring; and one-septate, fusiform, greenish brown ascospores. Sequence analyses of partial nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA) were performed to infer the phylogenetic affinities of these new taxa. A key to species of Jobellisia is provided.     

A new species ofLasiobolidium from Californian soil

Lasiobolidium gracile isolated from a soil sample collected from California, USA is described as a new species. This species is characterized by yellowish brown to reddish brown, nonostiolate ascomata with numerous, long straight appendages and a translucent peridium, subglobose to broadly clavate asci, hyaline to pale yellowish brown, ellipsoidal ascospores. It differs from the other species ofLasiobolidium in the straight and narrow appendages and the large ascospores. A key is presented separating the seven known species.     

Materials for the fungus flora of Japan (57)

Two microfungi are described as new to Japan:Amaurascopsis reticulatus (Amauroascaceae, Ascomycetes), isolated from forest soil in Kamakura, has not been recorded since it was originally found and is characterized by yellow to orange-red ascomata with undifferentiated peridial hyphae and globose ascospores with contorted ridges appearing irregularly punctate-reticulate; andHobsonia mirabilis (helicosporous hyphomycete), isolated from the cut stem of a thistle in Hachijo-jima, is characterized by gelatinous sporodochia and hyaline, tortuously coiled conidia. (56): Okuda, T. and Yamamoto, K., Mycoscience41: 411–414, 2000.     

New species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clohiesia</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Paraniesslia</Emphasis> collected from freshwater habitats in China

Two fungi collected from submerged woody debris were found to represent hitherto undescribed species of the ascomycete genera Clohiesia and Paraniesslia. They are described as Clohiesia curvispora sp. nov. and Paraniesslia aquatica sp. nov. based on morphological characters. Clohiesia curvispora is characterized by immersed ascomata under a clypeus, and unitunicate, cylindrical asci containing one-celled, curved, elongate-fusiform ascospores. Paraniesslia aquatica is characterized by small, superficial, setose ascomata, and unitunicate, clavate asci containing verrucose, brown ascospores. Each species is illustrated with light micrographs and compared with similar taxa in this article.