New and interesting species ofEmericella from Chinese soil

Emericella miyajii, a new species isolated from Chinese soil, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by pale orange to brownish orange colonies on malt extract agar, subglobose to broadly elliptical ascospores with defective four equatorial crests and smooth convex walls, and with anAspergillus anamorph.Emericella undulata is also described as an uncommon species from Chinese soil.     

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 acremonium-like species in the Bionectriaceae and Plectosphaerellaceae

Several molecular studies have demonstrated that species traditionally assigned to the form genus Acremonium are polyphyletic, while Acremonium sensu stricto is a central element of the family Bionectriaceae (Hypocreales). Based on phenotypic characters and molecular phylogenetic analyses, two new Acremonium species, A. moniliforme and A. dimorphosporum, are described. The former is related to Emericellopsis and is characterised by cylindrical conidia, acicular phialides and abundantly formed moniliform hyphae. Acremonium dimorphosporum resembles A. borodinense. It produces dimorphic conidia that are either cylindrical and smooth-walled or ellipsoidal and rough-walled. The new genus Brunneomyces is proposed based on three species, including B. brunnescens (formerly A. brunnescens), B. europaeus and B. hominis. They are characterised by brown hyphae, sympodial conidiophores and chains of ovoidal to ellipsoidal conidia. Chordomyces albus sp. nov. is characterized by its light-coloured colonies, simple or branched conidiophores, phialides with percurrent proliferations and cylindrical collarettes, and ellipsoidal to cylindrical conidia. The combined analysis of the LSU, ITS, RPB2 and TEF1-α loci supports the inclusion of B. brunnescens, B. europaeus, B. hominis and C. albus in Plectosphaerellaceae.     

Materials for the fungus flora of Japan (56)Mariannaea camptospora andM. elegans var.punicea from Japan

One additional species and a variety ofMariannaea, M. camptospora andM. elegans var.punicea, were recorded for the first time in Japan.Mariannaea camptospora formed two types of conidiophores. One type was characterized by simple verticillate phialides sometimes with punctuate walls at the base, producing long oblique conidial chains, and symmetrical spindle-shaped conidia. The other type was characterized by more crowded and shorter phialides with small conidial droplets and hemispherical to concave smaller conidia.Mariannaea elegans var.punicea was characterized by distinct red purple pigmentation in agar media. (55): Udagawa, S. and Uchiyama, S., Mycoscience41: 263–267, 2000.     

Endophytic fungi occurring in fennel, lettuce, chicory, and celery — commercial crops in southern Italy

The occurrence of endophytic fungi in fennel, lettuce, chicory, and celery crops was investigated in southern Italy. A total of 186 symptomless plants was randomly collected and sampled at the stage of commercial ripeness. Fungal species of Acremonium, Alternaria, Fusarium, and Plectosporium were detected in all four crops; Plectosporium tabacinum was the most common in all crop species and surveyed sites. The effect of eight endophytic isolates (five belonging to Plectosporium tabacinum and three to three species of Acremonium) inoculated on lettuce plants grown in gnotobiosis was assessed by recording plant height, root length and dry weight, collar diameter, root necrosis, and leaf yellowing. P. tabacinum and three species of Acremonium, inoculated on gnotobiotically grown lettuce plants, showed pathogenic activity that varied with the fungal isolate. Lettuce plants inoculated with the isolates Ak of Acremonium kiliense, Ac of Acremonium cucurbitacearum, and P35 of P. tabacinum showed an increased root growth, compared to the non-inoculated control. The high frequency of P. tabacinum isolation recorded in lettuce plants collected in Bari and Metaponto, and in fennel plants from Foggia agricultural districts, suggests a relationship not only between a crop species and P. tabacinum, but also between the occurrence of the endophyte and the crop rotation history of the soil.     

A new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Discostroma</Emphasis> and its anamorph <Emphasis Type="Italic">Seimatosporium</Emphasis> with two morphological types of conidia,isolated from the stems of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Paeonia suffruticosa</Emphasis>

Conidia of two morphologically different types, one with a basal appendage only and the other with appendage at both ends, were isolated from the stems of Paeonia suffruticosa. Single conidial isolates of both types of conidia yield identical colonies, which then produced both types of conidia on agar media depending on temperature, thus showing that both types of conidia belong to the same fungus. Seimatosporium botan is described based on its morphological characteristics. The teleomorph of the fungus was first found on sterilized P. suffruticosa stems placed on water agar, when grown at 5°C for 2 months in 12-h photoperiod. Discostroma botan is described for this fungus. The teleomorph is also found on the same host in the field.     

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.     

Morphology and phylogeny of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Botryosphaeria dothidea</Emphasis> causing fruit rot of olives

The taxonomic position of the causal agent of fruit rot of olives was determined from fresh collections of the fungus from central Greece. In culture it formed two types of conidia, namely fusiform, hyaline, aseptate conidia typical of the genus Fusicoccum, and dark-walled, ovoid, ellipsoid or fusiform, 1–2 septate conidia that are not typically observed in Fusicoccum. A phylogenetic analysis based on ITS and EF1- sequences placed the fungus within the same clade as Fusicoccum aesculi, which is the anamorph of Botryosphaeria dothidea, and the type of the genus Fusicoccum.     

Classification of the guava wilt fungus Myxosporium psidii, the palm pathogen Gliocladium vermoesenii and the persimmon wilt fungus Acremonium diospyri in Nalanthamala

Psidium guajava wilt is known from South Africa, Malaysia and Taiwan. The fungus causing this disease, Myxosporium psidii, forms dry chains of conidia on surfaces of pseudoparenchymatous sporodochia, which develop in blisters on bark. Similar sporodochia are characteristic of Nalanthamala madreeya, the type species of Nalanthamala. Nalanthamala, therefore, is the appropriate anamorph genus for Myxosporium psidii, while Myxosporium is a nomen nudum (based on M. croceum). For M. psidii the combination Nalanthamala psidii is proposed. Nalanthamala psidii, the palm pathogen Gliocladium (Penicillium) vermoesenii, another undescribed anamorphic species from palm, two species of Rubrinectria and the persimmon pathogen Acremonium diospyri are monophyletic and belong to the Nectriaceae (Hypocreales) based on partial nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA) analyses. Rubrinectria, therefore, is the teleomorph of Nalanthamala, in which the anamorphs are classified as N. vermoesenii, N. diospyri or Nalanthamala sp. Nalanthamala squamicola, the only other Nalanthamala species, has affinities with the Bionectriaceae and is excluded from this group. Rubrinectria/Nalanthamala species form dimorphic conidiophores and conidia in culture. Fusiform, cylindrical, or allantoid conidia arise in colorless liquid heads on acremonium-like conidiophores; ovoidal conidia with somewhat truncated ends arise in long, persistent, dry chains on penicillate conidiophores. No penicillate but irregularly branched conidiophores were observed in N. diospyri. Conidia of N. psidii that are held in chains are shorter than those of N. madreeya, of which no living material is available. Nalanthamala psidii and N. diospyri are pathogenic specifically to their hosts. They form pale yellow to pale orange or brownish orange colonies, respectively, and more or less white conidial masses. Most strains of Rubrinectria sp., Nalanthamala sp. and N. vermoesenii originate from palm hosts, form mostly greenish or olive-brown colonies and white-to-salmon conidial masses. They form a monophyletic clade to which Nalanthamala psidii and N. diospyri are related based on analyses of the internal transcribed spacer regions and 5.8S rDNA (ITS rDNA), LSU rDNA, and partial beta-tubulin gene. Few polymorphic sites in the ITS rDNA and beta-tubulin gene indicate that Nalanthamala psidii comprises two lineages, one of which has been detected only in South Africa.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hirsutella proturicola</Emphasis> sp. nov. isolated from a proturan, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Baculentulus</Emphasis> densus (Protura,Hexapoda)

A new species of Hirsutella, H. proturicola, isolated from a subterranean proturan (Baculentulus densus; Protura, Hexapoda), is described and illustrated. Hirsutella proturicola is characterized by producing monoblastic phialides of 24–51.5 × 2.5–5 μm with a slightly roughened neck, fusiform and curved conidia of 9–18 × 2.5–4 μm that have a truncate base and a papillate projection often capped with sheath-like mucilage, and pluricellular, globose to subglobose chlamydospores of 21–48 × 21–41.5 μm. This species is morphologically and phylogenetically close to H. rostrata, an acaropathogenic species, but can be distinguished from the size of the phialides and the size and shape of the conidia.     

篮状菌属岛篮状菌组的三个中国新记录种

根据形态学和CaM、Rpb2及rDNAITS1-5.8S-ITS2序列的分子系统学分析,界定篮状菌属岛篮状菌组Talaromyces sect.Islandici的3个中国新记录种,即螨生篮状菌T.acaricola、根篮状菌T.radicus和哒叻篮状菌T.tratensis.螨生篮状菌生长局限,形成绒状菌落,在ME...     

Acremonium-like submerged conidiation inPaecilomyces nostocoides andP. lilacinus

Paecilomyces nostocoides, in which conidia of smaller or larger sizes appear in chains, was newly isolated from Japan. In addition to the typicalPaecilomyces-type conidiation, the Japanese isolate showed additionalAcremonium-like submerged conidiation in and/or on some agar media. The submerged conidiation was also observed in the ex-type strains, but not in the type specimens ofP. nostocoides. The same submerged conidiation was observed inP. lilacinus, the species most similar toP. nostocoides. The species definitions ofP. nostocoides andP. lilacinus were emended to include the submerged conidiation.Paecilomyces-type conidia were uninucleate in bothP. nostocoides andP. lilacinus. Paecilomyces nostocoides andP. lilacinus had the Q-10(H₂) ubiquinone system.     

A new species of Cladophialophora (hyphomycetes) from boreal and montane bryophytes

During a survey of bryophilous fungi from boreal and montane habitats in central Alberta, a hitherto undescribed species of Cladophialophora was recovered from Polytrichum juniperinum, Aulacomnium palustre, and Sphagnum fuscum. On potato dextrose agar (PDA) colonies grew slowly, attaining a diameter of 25 mm after 30 d, were dark grey, velvety, radially sulcate, and convolute and cracked at the centre. Micronematous conidiophores gave rise to branched chains of small (1–2 × 8–22 μm), cylindrical to fusiform conidia with truncate, swollen scars at each end. Phylogenies built on the ITS and ribosomal SSU regions indicate the isolates form a monophyletic clade within the family Herpotrichiellaceae (Chaetothyriales) that is composed of two geographically based groups, each with 99 % within-group sequence similarity and 97–98 % between-group sequence similarity. A teleomorph has not been found but would likely be similar to species of Capronia. In vitro inoculation of the isolates onto axenically grown P. juniperinum produced no discernible host symptoms, and host penetration could not be detected using light microscopy. The production of polyphenol oxidases by the fungus and the role of other Cladophialophora species as latent endophytes and saprobes suggest that a potential role for the fungus is the degradation of the polyphenol-rich cell walls of mosses. A dichotomous key to species of the genus Cladophialophora is provided.     

Two new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichoderma</Emphasis> from Yunnan,China

Two new species of the fungal genus Trichoderma, Trichoderma compactum and Trichoderma yunnanense, isolated from rhizosphere of tobacco in Yunnan Province, China are described based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences. Our DNA sequences included the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the rDNA cluster (ITS1 and ITS2), and partial sequences of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1) and a fragment of the gene coding for endochitinase 42 (ech42). The analyses show that T. compactum belongs to the Harzianum clade, and T. yunnanense belongs to the Hamatum clade.     

An aero-aquatic fungus, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Peyronelina glomerulata</Emphasis>, is shown to have teleomorphic affinities with cyphelloid basidiomycetes

On decayed wood near a stream, tiny cyphelloid, hair-bearing, Flagelloscypha-like basidiomata were found coexisting with conidia of an aero-aquatic fungus, Peyronelina glomerulata. An isolate originating from the basidioma produced conidia of P. glomerulata by soaking the culture in water. Three additional strains originating from conidia of P. glomerulata produced immature basidiomata with basidium-like structures on the agar medium after about 4 months incubation. Fine structure of the hyphal septa of P. glomerulata was found to be of the dolipore type. Phylogenetic analysis based on sequences from the D1/D2 regions of the LSU rDNA showed that the strains from conidia and from a basidioma clustered together in the Flagelloscypha clade and nested within the Nia clade of Hymenomycetes. The culture studies and molecular phylogenetic analysis suggested that P. glomerulata has a Flagelloscypha teleomorph, a cyphelloid basidiomycete. The molecular data also indicate that P. glomerulata is phylogenetically related to the marine basidiomycetes, Nia and Halocyphina. Thus, this study revealed that cyphelloid basidiomycetes have evolved into both marine as well as freshwater habitats by morphological adaptations of the teleomorphs in the former and of the anamorph in the latter case.     

Phialide arrangement and character evolution in the helotialean anamorph genera Cadophora and Phialocephala

The dematiaceous hyphomycete genera Cadophora and Phialocephala are anamorphs associated with mollisioid inoperculate discomycetes (Helotiales) and are delineated based on the complexity of the phialide arrangement with members of Cadophora producing solitary phialides and species of Phialocephala producing complex heads of multiple phialides. A third phylogenetically related taxon, Leptodontidium orchidicola, produces mostly indehiscent conidia that may represent non-functional phialides. Morphological characteristics of both sexual and asexual states of these and other fungi in a focal group of helotialean taxa were re-examined, in light of relationships shown by molecular phylogenetic analyses of rDNA ITS sequences, to determine the evolutionary significance of phialide arrangement. The focal species of Phialocephala formed a monophyletic clade, while five of six species of Cadophora including the type were in a separate clade along with L. orchidicola. C. finlandica was placed in a third clade with species of Meliniomyces and Rhizoscyphus. We hypothesized that the ancestral state for species in Cadophora and Phialocephala is the production of sclerotium-like heads of multiple phialides, which has been retained in most species assignable to Phialocephala. A reduction to solitary phialides occurred in the lineage leading to the clade containing most of the Cadophora species. Two possible reductions to non-functional phialides were identified: one in the Meliniomyces-C. finlandica-Chloridium paucisporum clade and another in the L. orchidicola and Mollisia "rhizophila": clade. A reversion to increased phialide complexity might have occurred in the clade containing C. finlandica and Ch. paucisporum. Our data and analyses also show a previously unrecognized relationship between teleomorph and anamorph morphology in that Mollisia species with smaller asci would be expected to have Phialocephala states while those with larger asci would be expected to have Cadophora states. Based on morphology and phylogenetic placement, L. orchidicola and C. hiberna are transferred respectively to Cadophora and Phialocephala.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Talaromyces heiheensis</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">T. mangshanicus</Emphasis>, two new species from China

Two new species, Talaromyces heiheensis from rotten wood and T. mangshanicus isolated from soil, are illustrated and described as new to science in sections Trachyspermi and Talaromyces. The phylogenetic positions of the two new species inferred from the internal transcribed spacer, beta-tubulin, calmodulin and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit regions were carried out. Talaromyces heiheensis is phylogenetically closely related to T. albobiverticillius, T. rubrifaciens, T. solicola and T. erythromellis, and characterised by slow growth on Czapek yeast autolysate agar at 25 °C, orange conidia en masse on malt extract agar at 25 °C, biverticillate and terverticillate conidiophores, acerose phialides and subglobose to ellipsoidal, smooth-walled conidia. Talaromyces mangshanicus is related to T. kendrickii, T. qii and T. thailandensis, and characterised by slow-growing colonies with absent or sparse sporulation on CYA agar at 25 °C, conidia en masse greyish purple, purplish red soluble pigment on yeast extract agar (YES) at 25 °C, biverticillate conidiophores, ampulliform phialides and subglobose to ellipsoidal conidia with echinulate walls. They are distinguished from the known species in culture characteristics on four standard media, microscopic features and sequence data.     

Atkinsiella awabi sp. nov. isolated from stocked abalone,Haliotis sieboldii

A fungal disease in the abalone,Haliotis sieboldii, stocked in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, showed external signs of infection of tubercle-like swelling on the mantle and melanized lesions on the peduncle. The fungus responsible was isolated by inoculating materials taken from the lesions onto PYGS agar with streptomycin sulphate and ampicillin, and incubation at 20°C. For morphological observation and spore formation study, the fungus was transferred respectively into PYGS broth and sterilized artificial seawater and incubated at 20°C. Resulting, hyphae were stout, irregular, branched, 16–140µm diam, sporadically consisting of dense cytoplasmic swollen hyphae. Sporangia were formed through the formation of septa and lateral or terminal discharge tubes which were wavy or coiled. Zoospores were pyriform, biflagellate and diplanetic. The encysted spore generally developed a hairlike filament with globular enlarged tip in PYGS broth. Direct germination without filament formation also occurred occasionally. This fungus was identified as belonging to the genusAtkinsiella, and was designatedAtkinsiella awabi sp. nov. The fungus was exclusively a marine fungus and grew best in shrimp extract medium at 20°C. Five chemicals were tested for their effects against fungal zoospores.     

A new species of Anthopsis

Anthopsis catenata sp. nov., isolated from roots of Abies alba is described. The species is characterised by inverted phialides producing pale brown, ellipsoidal to subglobose conidia in chains.     

Mycobiota associated with larval mines of Thrypticus truncatus and T. sagittatus (Diptera, Dolichopodidae) on waterhyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, in Argentina

Thrypticus truncatus is a candidate agent for biocontrol of waterhyacinth; the larvae of this diptera mine in the petioles and feed on the phloem in the vascular bundles. The mycobiota associated with T. truncatus and T. sagittatus mines was investigated during two surveys undertaken in the spring and autumn in the Delta of the Paraná River, Argentina. Isolations were made from the mines and larval feeding points, as well as from the larvae, following dissection of the petioles, and plated onto agar. Young and upper parts of the petioles without Thrypticus mines were used as controls. Twenty eight fungal species were isolated from the mines. Pestalotiopsis guepinii, Mucor attenuatus, Phoma tropica, Achlya americana, Fusarium avenaceum, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Clonostachys rosea, Epicoccum purpurascens, Plectosporium tabacinum, Alternaria alternata, and Acremonium sp. were the most common fungi associated with mines and feeding points. Cladosporium cladosporioides, Cytospora sp., Mucor attenuatus, and Phoma tropica were associated with the larval body. The list of fungi in mines was compared with bibliographic information to determine if the species are known pathogens on waterhyacinth or other plant species. This is the first study on mycobiota associated with T. truncatus and T. sagittatus mines in waterhyacinth petioles in Argentina.