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.     

Notes on twoUmbelopsis species:U. nana andU. vinacea from Japan

Umbelopsis nana andU. vinacea isolated from soils in Nagano Pref., Japan were redescribed and illustrated.     

Labiobaetis species of Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, with a new synonym of L. atrebatinus (Eaton 1870) and reerection of the subspecies L. atrebatinus orientalis (Kluge 1983) (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae)

We associated nymphs of Labiobaetis sp. G and Labiobaetis sp. Q from Japan with imagoes reared from nymphs in the field. Labiobaetis sp. G was identified with L. atrebatinus (Eaton 1870) based on characters of the reared male and female imagoes, nymphs, and eggs. We also synonymized a Taiwanese species, L. morus (Chang and Yang 1994), with L. atrebatinus. After further examination of the characters of male imagoes from Japan and Korea and nymphs from Japan and Taiwan, we found them to be correspondent to subspecies L. atrebatinus orientalis (Kluge 1983). Thus, we reerected the subspecific status of L. a. orientalis, although it had been considered not distinguishable from the nominotypical subspecies L. a. atrebatinus. Labiobaetis a. orientalis is distributed in the Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. We identified Labiobaetis sp. Q with L. tricolor (Tshernova 1928) based on characters of the reared male and female imagoes, nymphs, and eggs. Labiobaetis tricolor was recorded from Japan for the first time.     

Long-term changes in frequencies ofPythium iwayamai andP. paddicum in upland- and paddy-field soils

The long-term changes in the frequencies ofPythium iwayamai andP. paddicum in upland- and flooded paddy-field soils were compared. The frequencies of both species fell in both soils within the first 6 months after they had been buried. After 36 and 48 months,P. iwayamai showed higher frequency thanP. Paddicum in upland-field soil, whileP. paddicum showed higher frequency thanP. iwayamai in paddy-field soil. These findings indicate respectively higher colonization ability to organic matters ofP. iwayamai in upland-field soil andP. paddicum in paddy-field soil.This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid (no. 63560048) from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan.     

广西凭祥口岸首次截获有害生物台湾坡天牛Pterolophia formosana

台湾坡天牛一般随着木制品及包装制品进行远距离传播入境。目前我国台湾地区和日本有分布,在我国大陆地区尚未见该虫的发生报道。2019年5月凭祥口岸从来自越南的相思木板上截获了台湾坡天牛,为我国大陆首次截获。通过显微形态特征的观察和测量进行台湾坡天牛种类鉴定。台湾坡天牛与近似种的主要区别:其鞘翅基部具明显的黑褐色宽横带。通过入侵可能性分析,来自我国台湾地区、日本的台湾坡天牛入侵我国大陆地区的可能性很大。台湾坡天牛在我国广东、广西、福建等地区定殖和扩散风险很大。一旦传入我国,将对我国的农林安全造成巨大威胁,各口岸应对进境的木制品及包装加强检验检疫。     

Two interesting cleistothecial Ascomycetes from soils

A new variety ofThermoascus, Thermoascus crustaceus var.verrucosus, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by producing prominently verrucose ascospores. The other characters are almost identical with those of the type variety.Leucothecium coprophilum, a rare ascomycete that has only previously been reported from Spain, is recorded from soils in Taiwan and Korea.     

Phylogeography of the genus Cardiandra based on genetic variation in cpDNA sequences

We investigated the phylogenetic relationships within the genus Cardiandra based on plastid DNA sequences. The phylogenetic tree showed that Cardiandra populations from the Ryukyu Islands (Japan) and Taiwan were monophyletic (Ryukyu–Taiwan clade), whereas taxa from China and mainland Japan were sisters to this clade. The divergence time between the Ryukyu–Taiwan clade and the other species was estimated to be 0.082 MYA, i.e., the late Pleistocene. The infrageneric and/or infraspecific differentiation of Cardiandra is estimated to have depended largely on allopatric differentiation caused by the presence or division of the past landbridge of the Ryukyu Islands, which connected mainland Japan to the Asian Continent during the Quaternary.     

中国大陆天麻属一新分布种——细天麻

报道了中国大陆兰科(Orchidaceae)天麻属(Gastrodia)1新记录种——细天麻(Gastrodia gracilis Bl.)。标本采自云南省开远市碑格乡,生于海拔约2 500m的常绿阔叶林下,群落郁闭度较大,林下湿润。标本主要形态学特征为总状花序长约6cm,花排列稀疏,管状,下垂,浅棕色,花被筒顶端5裂,苞片宿存,地下茎小。该种此前记录产于中国台湾及日本。该发现在中国大陆尚属首次,加强了中国云南植物区系与中国台湾以及日本植物区系的联系。     

Mitochondrial phylogeny reveals the artificial introduction of the pale chub Zacco platypus (Cyprinidae) in Taiwan

The presence of the pale chub Zacco platypus (Japanese name, Oikawa) in Taiwan has been suggested to be a result of its inadvertent introduction from Lake Biwa in Japan in the 1980s in conjunction with the Japanese Ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis, which was released several times into the Tamsui River to restock the extinct Ayu population of Taiwan. However, it is also possible that Z. platypus is native to Taiwan and has not been previously described for reasons of its narrow range. Knowledge of the colonizing history of Z. platypus is of considerable importance because it provides insight into the evolutionary process and, hence, impacts management decisions regarding this species in Taiwan. A portion of the mitochondrial D-loop was sequenced for 77 specimens from five populations of Z. platypus from Japan and Taiwan. A total of 22 haplotypes were identified, and nucleotide divergence among haplotypes ranged from 0.20% to 2.82%. Haplotype diversity was high in all populations examined, with a range from 0.718 in the Tagiri River population to 0.909 in the Lake Biwa population. Phylogenetic and statistical parsimony analyses of the molecular data revealed a close genetic relationship between Taiwanese and Japanese Z. platypus and supported the previous report that the Taiwanese Z. platypus originated in Lake Biwa in Japan.     

Indonesian Kickxellales: two species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Coemansia</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Linderina</Emphasis>

Four species belonging to Kickxellales (Kickxellomycotina) isolated from soil of Indonesia are described and illustrated. Two new species of Coemansia, C. asiatica and C. javaensis, were discovered in South Sulawesi and West Java, and two known species of Linderina, L. pennispora and L. macrospora, were discovered in East Kalimantan and South Sulawesi, respectively. These four species are newly added to the Indonesian mycobiota. A technique for inducing sporulation of C. javaensis and L. macrospora by adding substances derived from invertebrates such as aphids, nereids, or cladocerans to culture media is described.     

Molecular and biological studies on male-sterile cytoplasm in the Cruciferae. III. Distribution of Ogura-type cytoplasm among Japanese wild radishes and Asian radish cultivars

The distribution of Ogura male-sterile cytoplasm among Japanese wild radish populations and Asian cultivated radishes was studied by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-aided assays using mitochondrial atp6 and orf138 loci as molecular markers. Three separate PCR experiments were performed to amplify the target sequences in normal-type atp6, Ogura-type atp6, and Ogura-specific orf138, and the cytoplasm of each plant was classified as either normal or Ogura. Among 217 wild radish plants, 93 had both Ogura-type atp6 and orf138 (or its modified form), whereas 124 had normal-type atp6. Of the 93 plants with Ogura-type cytoplasm, only a single plant showed male sterility. A complete linkage between Ogura-type atp6 and orf138 loci was found in Japanese wild radishes, confirming our findings that Ogura-type cytoplasm is distributed widely among Japanese wild radish populations. A modified form of orf138 (orf138-S) was identified in a few wild radish populations in a limited area of Japan, and the nucleotide sequence of the orf138-S revealed a 39-bp deletion shared in common with Kosena male-sterile cytoplasm. Among the 44 Asian cultivars analyzed, 40 were determined to have normal cytoplasm since all 4 plants tested in each cultivar showed the same PCR amplification profiles as that of Uchiki-Gensuke, a reference cultivar with normal cytoplasm. The plants with Ogura-type cytoplasm (or its modified form) were found in 1, 1, and 2 cultivars from Tibet, Japan, and Taiwan, respectively. Except for 1 cultivar from Taiwan, those with Ogura-type cytoplasm included a few plants having male sterility. The multiple and independent introduction of Ogura-type cytoplasm from the wild radish in Asia into these cultivars is suggested.     

A migration analysis of the rice planthopper Nilaparvata lugens from the Philippines to East Asia with three-dimensional computer simulations

Migrations of the rice planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Delphacidae) from the Philippines to Taiwan, southern China, and southern Japan were analyzed using three-dimensional migration simulations. The results strongly suggested that the Southeast Asian population of N. lugens mixes with the East Asian population. This highlighted the possibility that planthoppers from the Southeast Asian population, which have properties different from those in the East Asian population such as feeding of resistant rice varieties and wing polymorphism, could migrate to Japan via southern China and Taiwan. This study, therefore, emphasizes the special care that should be taken to monitor the properties of immigrants to Japan.     

Monilinia jezoensis sp. nov. in the Sclerotiniaceae, causing leaf blight and mummy fruit disease of Rhododendron kaempferi in Hokkaido, northern Japan

A new leaf blight and mummy fruit disease caused by a species of Monilinia was first found on Rhododendron kaempferi at the lakeside of Shikotsu-ko, Hokkaido, northern Japan, in 2002. Studies on morphology, life cycle, cultural characters, and gene analyses of the causal fungus enabled us to conclude that it is a new species of the genus. It is named M. jezoensis. Rhododendron is a new host genus for Monilinia fungi in Japan.     

Genetic structure among and within populations of the serpentine endemic Heteropappus hispidus ssp. leptocladus (Compositae)

Heteropappus hispidus ssp. leptocladus is an edaphic endemic taxon that is confined to serpentine and limestone-derived soils and is allopatrically distributed in three regions of western Japan. In this study, we attempted to detect genomic signatures of seven H. hispidus ssp. leptocladus populations along with eight other subspecies populations using eight nuclear microsatellite loci. The Mantel test supported an isolation by distance model across all H. hispidus populations, thus implying the possibility of parallel evolution for each subspecies. Results from AMOVA recognized relatively larger differentiations in geographic distribution compared to intraspecific taxonomy. Relationships indicated by neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree analysis and population structure generally did not reflect an intraspecific taxonomy. Populations from limestone-derived soil harbored a homogeneous genetic structure with neighboring populations from serpentine-derived soils. These results suggest that the edaphic ecotype may have derived allopatrically while a lack of edaphic constraint existed between serpentine and limestone soils.     

Serotypes and mating types of clinical strains ofCryptococcus neoformans isolated in Taiwan

Twenty-one strains ofCryptococcus neoformans isolated from patients in Taiwan were characterized for serotypes and mating types. Slide agglutination test was performed with 8 factor-specific sera (Iatron Company, Japan) to determine the serotypes. Wheat bran agar (WBA) and malt extract agar (MEA, Wickerham) media were used for the mating tests. Twenty of the isolates were of serotype A, and one was serotype B. Except for 2 strains of serotype A, all of the serotype A strains mated withFilobasidiella neoformans var.neoformans, mating type a. The only serotype B strain mated withF. neoformans var.bacillispora mating type a in MEA medium. These data revealed the low prevalence (1/21; 4.8%) ofC. neoformans var.gattii in Taiwan, a subtropically located island.     

New and rare microfungi from the island of Hachijo-jima

Two striking fungi, isolated from soils from the island of Hachijo-jima in Japan, are described and illustrated. One of these represents a new species ofTalaromyces (Ascomycetes), for which the nameTalaromyces hachijoensis is proposed. The new species is distinctive among all other recognized species in its restricted growth on common media, yellow ascomata characterized by asci developing in chains, striate ascospores, and the absence of an anamorph. The other isHeterocephalum taiense, a rare hyphomycete which has only previously been recorded from lvory Coast soil and probably from Panama soil.     

Addition and reexamination of Japanese species belonging to the genus Cercospora and allied genera. IX. Newly recorded species from Japan (4)

Pseudocercospora cyatheae C. Nakash. & S. Inaba on Cyathea sp. as a new species is described. Three species belonging to the genus Cercospora and allied genera are newly added to the mycoflora of Japan. They are Cercospora armoraciae on Armoracia rusticana, Passalora passaloroides on Amorpha fruticosa, and Pseudocercospora nogalesii on Cytisus scoparius.     

Phellinus setifer sp. nov. andP. acontextus, two noteworthy polypores from temperate areas of Japan, with notes on their allies

Type examination ofTrametes gilvoides revealed that it is distinct from the fungus hitherto known asPhellinus gilvoides in Japan.Phellinus setifer sp. nov. is described for the Japanese materials. This species is characterized by effusedreflexed basidiocarps with strigose pileus surface, often dentate dissepiments, subulate setae, and cylindrical basidiospores.Phellinus acontextus, known only from the type material collected in Nepal, is newly reported from Japan. This species is characterized by sessile and often pendent basidiocarps with multisulcate pileus surface, very thin context, lack of setae, and dark-colored basidiospores. Cultural characters of the two species are also described.Phellinus acifer comb. nov. is proposed.Phellinus contiguus andP. ferreus are newly reported from Japan.     

Photosynthetic responses of birch and alder saplings grown in a free air CO2 enrichment system in northern Japan

Though birch and alder are the common pioneer tree species which dominate in northeast Asia, little is known about the effects of the predicted increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations ([CO₂]) upon their photosynthesis in field conditions. To investigate this, we grew 2-year-old saplings of three Betulaceae species (Betula platyphylla var. japonica Hara, Betula maximowicziana Regel, and Alnus hirsuta Turcz) for 2 years in a free air CO₂ enrichment system in northern Japan. Since the effect of high [CO₂] is known to depend on soil conditions, we evaluated the responses in two soils which are widely distributed in northern Japan: infertile and immature volcanic ash (VA) soil, and fertile brown forest (BF) soil. For B. platyphylla, photosynthetic down-regulation occurred in both soils, but for B. maximowicziana, down-regulation occurred only in VA soil. The explanation is reduced nitrogen and Rubisco content in the leaf. For A. hirsuta, down-regulation occurred only in BF soil because of the accumulation of starch in foliage, which restricts CO₂ diffusion inside the chloroplast. The higher photosynthetic rate of A. hirsuta in infertile VA soil could be due to the sink for photosynthates in the N₂-fixing symbiont. These three species are all able to down-regulate at high [CO₂]. However, it is possible that A. hirsuta would dominate in VA soil and B. maximowicziana in BF soil in the early stages of forest succession in a CO₂-enhanced world.     

Xenorhabdus japonicus sp. nov. associated with the nematode Steinernema kushidai

A new species, Xenorhabdus japonicus, is proposed as the bacterial symbiont of Steinernema kushidai isolated from field soil in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Xenorhabdus japonicus could be distinguished phenotypically and genetically from other Xenorhabdus spp. The type strain of the species, SK-1, a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobe and peritrichously flagellated rod, has colonies with primary and secondary forms. The strain can be differentiated from the type strain of Xenorhabdus nematophilus by several characters, including the formation of arginine dehydrolase, phenylalanine deaminase and lysine decarboxylase, the assimilation of inosine and L-proline and acid production from inositol. The major cellular fatty acids are 16:0, cyclo 17:0 and 18:1. The ubiquinone system is Q-8. The G+C content of DNA is 45.9 mol%. The DNA of strain SK-1 has 20 to 58% homology with that of the type strains of other Xenorhabdus spp.Y. Nishimura, A. Hagiwara and T. Suzuki are with the Department of Applied Biological Science, Science University of Tokyo, Noda 278, Japan, and SDS Biotech K.K., Tsukuba Technology Centre, Tsukuba 300-26, Japan