Freshwater ascomycetes: Jahnula apiospora (Jahnulales, Dothideomycetes), a new species from Prince Edward Island, Canada

A new ascomycete species, Jahnula apiospora (Jahnulales, Dothideomycetes), collected from submerged wood in a freshwater creek on Prince Edward Island, Canada, is described and illustrated. The characteristic features of the new species are globose to subglobose, black, ostiolate, membranous ascomata with broad, brown, subtending hyphae; a peridial wall composed of an outer layer of thick-walled cells occluded by black, amorphous material along the upper two-thirds of the ascoma; trabeculate pseudoparaphyses; cylindrical to narrowly fusoid, fissitunicate asci; and brown, one-septate, apiosporous ascospores without a gelatinous sheath or appendages.     

Minutisphaera and Natipusilla: two new genera of freshwater Dothideomycetes

Two new genera are established in the Dothideomycetes based on morphological and molecular data (SSU and LSU nuclear ribosomal sequences) to accommodate four ascomycete species collected from woody debris submerged in freshwater habitats. The genus Minutisphaera is represented by a single species, M. fimbriatispora, which was collected from freshwater habitats in temperate forests in North America. It has small, superficial, brown, subglobose, papillate pseudothecia with dark, irregularly twisted hairs around the papillae, fissitunicate asci, septate pseudoparaphyses, and hyaline, one-septate ascospores surrounded by a gelatinous sheath and having spine-like appendages radiating around the ascospore at the septum. Minutisphaera formed a strongly supported clade with Farlowiella carmichaeliana. The second genus, Natipusilla, contains three new species, N. decorospora, N. limonensis and N. naponensis, which were collected from Central and South America. Natipusilla is characterized by small, superficial, light-colored, globose pseudothecia, fissitunicate asci, few or no pseudoparaphyses, and hyaline, one-septate to tardily two- or three-septate ascospores with or without a gelatinous sheath. The three Natipusilla species form a well supported clade, but their relationship to other members of the Dothideomycetes remains unclear.     

Freshwater ascomycetes: Natipusillaceae, a new family of tropical fungi, including Natipusilla bellaspora sp. nov. from the Peruvian Amazon

A new ascomycete species, Natipusilla bellaspora, collected from submerged woody debris in a freshwater stream at Los Amigos Biological Station, Madre De Dios in the Peruvian Amazon is described and illustrated. This fungus is characterized by small, globose to subglobose, hyaline ascomata; small, globose to subglobose, eight-spored fissitunicate asci; one-septate, multiguttulate ascospores with two different gelatinous sheaths, an outer amorphous sheath that enlarges in water and an inner sheath that has a distinctive persistent shape and is attached to the ascospore apex. Morphologically N. bellaspora differs from other Natipusilla species in having larger ascospores and two ascospore sheaths. A second Natipusilla species, N. limonensis, is reported for the first time from Peru. Based on the unique morphological characters of taxa in Natipusilla and results of previous molecular phylogenetic analyses with other members of the Dothideomycetes, we establish Natipusillaceae fam. nov. for this unique tropical freshwater clade.     

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.     

Freshwater ascomycetes: Wicklowia aquatica, a new genus and species in the Pleosporales from Florida and Costa Rica

During a latitudinal survey of freshwater ascomycetes, an unidentified fungus with bitunicate asci was found on submerged wood and herbaceous material from Florida and Costa Rica. Based on morphological characteristics and 28S rDNA large subunit (LSU) sequence data, this fungus is described as a new genus and species, Wicklowia aquatica, and placed in the Pleosporales (Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes). Phylogenetic analyses based on LSU sequences did not resolve the familial placement of W. aquatica within the Pleosporales. The characteristic features of W. aquatica are subglobose, dorsiventrally flattened, ostiolate, immersed to erumpent, black ascomata; a peridial wall composed of 4–5 layers of darkened pseudoparenchymatic cells; cellular pseudoparaphyses immersed in a gel matrix; broadly clavate, bitunicate asci; and cylindrical, hyaline, one-septate ascospores with rounded apices and surrounded by a gelatinous sheath that expands in water; ascospore sheath attached at the ascospore base with a gelatinous curtain extending from the base that fragments into basal filamentous appendages which radiate from the base of the ascospore.     

Systematics of Halosarpheia based on morphological and molecular data

The genus Halosarpheia (Halosphaeriales) was established for marine ascomycetes with obpyriform to sub-globose, coriaceous, brown to black ostiolate ascomata with long necks; hamathecia of catenophyses; thin-walled, unitunicate, persistent asci with thick-walled apices; and ellipsoid, one septate, hyaline ascospores equipped with coiled, threadlike apical appendages that unfurl in water. Emphasis on ascospore appendage morphology has led to the inclusion in the genus of morphologically disparate fungi from a variety of marine and freshwater habitats. To better understand the evolutionary relationships of Halosarpheia species, phylogenetic analyses were conducted on 16 Halosarpheia species, 13 other species of Halosphaeriales and representatives of the Microascales, Hypocreales, Sordariales and Xylariales using 18S and 28S rDNA sequence data. All of the Halosarpheia species occurred on the Halosphaeriales clade. The type species of the genus, H. fibrosa, occurred on a well-supported clade with two morphologically similar species, H. trullifera and H. unicellularis. This clade, which phylogenetically was distant from the clades of other Halosarpheia species, represents the genus Halosarpheia sensu stricto. The other Halosarpheia species were distributed among eight other well-supported clades clearly separated from one another based on molecular data. New generic names are established for six of these clades, one new species is described, and one species is transferred to Aniptodera. A table (Table I) comparing the morphology, habitat, substrate and distribution of the genera of aquatic ascomycetes with coiled, threadlike apical appendages treated in this study is provided, along with a key for their identification.     

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.     

Freshwater ascomycetes: two new species of Lindgomyces (Lindgomycetaceae, Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes) from Japan and USA

During independent surveys of freshwater ascomycetes in Japan and USA two new species of Lindgomyces were collected from submerged wood in freshwater. These species are described and illustrated based on morphological data and phylogenetic relationships based on analyses of nuclear ribosomal sequence data (partial SSU and LSU, and ITS). Lindgomyces apiculatus, collected in Japan, is characterized by immersed to erumpent, globose to subglobose ascomata; fissitunicate, cylindrical to clavate asci; and fusiform, one-septate ascospores with acute ends and short terminal appendages. Lindgomyces lemonweirensis, collected in Wisconsin, USA, differs from L. apiculatus in having clavate to cymbiform asci and oblong to fusiform ascospores that are distinctively multiguttulate and surrounded by an oval, ephemeral gelatinous sheath. The new species formed a strongly supported clade within the family Lindgomycetaceae (Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes) based on analyses of combined SSU and LSU sequence data. In addition phylogenetic analyses with ITS sequence data support the establishment of the new taxa as separate species within Lindgomyces because they were separated from each other and other Lindgomyces species based on maximum likelihood bootstrap and Bayesian analyses.     

Utriascus, a new ascomycetous genus in the Sordariales

The new monotypic genus Utriascus is described from wood of Ulmus glabra in the ?umava Mts. National Park, Czech Republic. It is characterized by superficial, setose ascomata, unitunicate, saccate, and long-pedunculate asci that lack any discharge mechanism in the apex and one-celled, dark pigmented ascospores enclosed in a hyaline ornamented sheath. Utriascus is classified in the Sordariales.     

Freshwater ascomycetes: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aliquandostipite minuta</Emphasis> (Jahnulales,Dothideomycetes), a new species from Florida

An undescribed ascomycete similar to species in the Aliquandostipitaceae (Jahnulales, Dothideomycetes) was collected from submerged wood in a freshwater swamp in Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida. The characteristic features of the new species are as follows: (i) ascomata are small, sessile, light brown, globose to subglobose, papillate, and anchored to the substrate by wide, brown, septate and subtending hyphae; peridial wall is composed of 1 to 2 layers of large, angular cells with large lumens; (ii) asci are ovoid to broadly clavate, and fissitunicate; (iii) ascospores are one-septate, fusiform, multiguttulate, pale brown, surrounded by a fusiform gelatinous sheath, and equipped with numerous filamentous appendages around the midseptum. The new fungus is most similar to Aliquandostipite crystallinus, from which it differs in overall smaller size and morphology. This new fungus is described and illustrated herein as A. minuta.     

Two new lineages of aquatic ascomycetes: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Atractospora</Emphasis> gen. nov. and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rubellisphaeria</Emphasis> gen. et sp. nov., and a sexual morph of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Myrmecridium montsegurinum</Emphasis> sp. nov.

Two new genera, Atractospora and Rubellisphaeria, are described for perithecial ascomycetes occurring on decaying wood submerged in freshwater habitats. Their relationships with other morphologically similar fungi were investigated utilising four nuclear ribosomal and protein-coding loci. They are nested together with members of five orders and families and numerous genera incertae sedis in the Sordariomycetidae in a clade supported by Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. Their closest relative is Lentomitella. Atractospora includes species characterised by dark, immersed to semi-immersed beaked ascomata lying horizontally to the host, stipitate asci with a pronounced non-amyloid apical annulus and hyaline, fusiform, septate, thick-walled ascospores with smooth or ornamented wall. Three novel species are introduced (A. decumbens, A. reticulata and A. verruculosa). A new combination for Aquaticola ellipsoidea is proposed in Atractospora based on molecular data and morphological characters. Rubellisphaeria, with a new species R. abscondita, is distinct by subhyaline to reddish brown, immersed ascomata with a lateral neck, short-stipitate asci and ellipsoidal smooth ascospores with a delayed formation of a middle septum. The sexual morph of the dematiaceous hyphomycete genus Myrmecridium was encountered for the first time on decaying wood submerged in a stream. It is nested in a strongly supported monophyletic clade of the Myrmecridiales. The novel species M. montsegurinum is described; it possesses papillate ascomata immersed beneath a clypeus with subhyaline to weakly pigmented ascomatal wall, long-stipitate asci with a non-amyloid apical annulus and three-septate, hyaline, ellipsoidal, delicately verruculose ascospores. A morphology-based key is provided to facilitate identification of species of Atractospora.     

Lucidascocarpa pulchella, a new ascomycete genus and species from freshwater habitats in the American tropics

A new fungus collected from submerged wood in Costa Rica and Ecuador has ascostromatic ascomata with fissitunicate asci and lacks pseudoparaphyses, characters that place it in the Dothideaceae (Dothideales). It is unusual in the order because it has white ascomata. Based on other morphological characters however this fungus could not be accommodated in any existing genus in the Dothideaceae and it is described herein as a new genus and species, Lucidascocarpa pulchella. These morphological features are characteristic of L. pulchella: ascomata glistening, white, each with a long, periphysate neck; a membranous peridium composed of 5-7 thin-walled, hyaline cells; pseudoparaphyses absent; asci fissitunicate, clavate, eight-spored; ascospores seven-septate, hyaline, multiguttulate, verruculose, surrounded by a large, regular, gelatinous sheath.     

Dyrithiopsis lakefuxianensis gen. et sp. nov. from Fuxian Lake, Yunnan, China, and notes on the taxonomic confusion surrounding Dyrithium

A new taxon with Dyrithium-like characteristics was collected from Lake Fuxian in China. The taxon is typical of the Amphisphaeriaceae in that it has relatively large, ostiolate, immersed ascomata, unitunicate asci with a J+ subapical ring, and brown ascospores. It is similar to Dyrithium in that it has muriform ascospores, but considerable confusion surrounds this genus. In Dyrithium asci are bitunicate and lack a J+ subapical ring, while this was not true of our species. A new genus, Dyrithiopsis, therefore is established to accommodate this new taxon. Details of its anamorph also are provided, based on cultural studies. Parsimony analyses of part of the large-subunit rDNA provide further evidence to support the familial placement of this new genus in the Amphisphaeriaceae. The taxonomic position of Dyrithium also is discussed.     

Jahnula species from North and Central America, including three new species

Three new species of loculoascomycetes collected from freshwater habitats in North America are described as new species of Jahnula (Jahnulales, Dothideomycetes). All three share these morphological features: hyaline to blackish translucent, membranous ascomata with subtending, wide, septate brown, spreading hyphae; peridia composed of large angular cells; hamathecium of septate pseudoparaphyses; 8-spored, clavate to cylindrical asci; and 1-septate, broadly fusiform, brown, multiguttulate ascospores. Four additional species, J. aquatica, J. bipolaris, J. potamophila, and J. seychellensis, are reported for the first time from the western hemisphere.     

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.     

Annulusmagnus and Ascitendus, two new genera in the Annulatascaceae

Two pyrenomycetes in the Annulatascaceae described from freshwater, Annulatascus triseptatus and Ascolacicola austriaca, are reported from North and South America for the first time. Both species occur commonly on submerged wood in the U.S.A. The two taxa are similar morphologically in having black coriaceous ascomata, cylindrical necks, septate paraphyses, cylindrical pedicellate asci with prominent apical rings and three-septate ascospores. Molecular data demonstrates that Annulatascus is polyphyletic, with A. triseptatus on a clade widely separated from the type species of the genus, A. velatisporus. Ascolacicola austriaca is on a monophyletic clade within the Annulatascaceae as sister taxon of A. triseptatus. Based on morphological data and phylogenetic analyses of 28S rDNA sequence data, new genera Annulusmagnus and Ascitendus are established for Annulatascus triseptatus and Ascolacicola austriaca, respectively.     

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.     

An overview of the systematics of the Sordariomycetes based on a four-gene phylogeny

The Sordariomycetes is one of the largest classes in the Ascomycota, and the majority of its species are characterized by perithecial ascomata and inoperculate unitunicate asci. It includes more than 600 genera with over 3000 species and represents a wide range of ecologies including pathogens and endophytes of plants, animal pathogens and mycoparasites. To test and refine the classification of the Sordariomycetes sensu Eriksson (2006), the phylogenetic relationship among 106 taxa from 12 orders out of 16 in the Sordariomycetes was investigated based on four nuclear loci (nSSU and nLSU rDNA, TEF and RPB2), using three species of the Leotiomycetes as outgroups. Three subclasses (i.e. Hypocreomycetidae, Sordariomycetidae and Xylariomycetidae) currently recognized in the classification are well supported with the placement of the Lulworthiales in either a basal group of the Sordariomycetes or a sister group of the Hypocreomycetidae. Except for the Microascales, our results recognize most of the orders as monophyletic groups. Melanospora species form a clade outside of the Hypocreales and are recognized as a distinct order in the Hypocreomycetidae. Glomerellaceae is excluded from the Phyllachorales and placed in Hypocreomycetidae incertae sedis. In the Sordariomycetidae, the Sordariales is a strongly supported clade and occurs within a well supported clade containing the Boliniales and Chaetosphaeriales. Aspects of morphology, ecology and evolution are discussed.     

Two new species of pyrenomycetous ascomycetes from New Caledonia

Two new species of Pyrenomycetes from forest soil in New Caledonia,Anthostomella pacifica andChaetomium novaecaledonicum, are described and illustrated.Anthostomella pacifica is characterized by non-ostiolate ascomata, cylindrical asci with an amyloid apical apparatus, and two-celled ascospores (dark apical cylindrical and hyaline basal dwarfed cells) with longitudinal germ slits.Chaetomium novae-caledonicum is characterized by ostiolate ascomata, straight terminal hairs, arcuate lateral hairs with a recurved tip, and very small, ovoid-flattened ascospores.This research was supported in part by Monbusho International Scientific Research Program: Field Research, No. 05041093.