Musicillium pandanicola

Musicillium pandanicola Tibpromma & K.D. Hyde, in Tibpromma et al., Fungal Diversity: 10.1007/s13225-018-0408-6, [91] (2018)

Index Fungorum number: IF555295            Facesoffungi number: FoF04537

Saprobic on dead leaves of Pandanus sp. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies consisting of erect conidiophores. Mycelium immersed in the substrate, composed of septate, branched, brown hyphae. Conidiophores 500–578 × 6–9 μm ( x̄ = 547 × 7 μm, n = 5), macronematous, mononematous, scattered, brown, pale brown at apex, smooth, thick-walled, multi-septate, branched, straight or slightly flexuous. Conidiogenous cells 15–23 × 1–5 μm (x̄ = 18 × 4.5 μm, n = 20), monophialidic, subhyaline, cylindrical or flask-shaped, slightly tapering. Conidia 4–5 × 1–3 μm (x̄ = 4.6 × 2.4 μm, n = 30), hyaline to subhyaline, oval, aseptate, rounded at both ends, smooth-walled, without slime.

Culture characteristics: Conidia germinating on PDA within 12 hr. Colonies on PDA reaching 9 cm diam., in 2 weeks at room temperature, circular, entire edge with black-grey in the middle and white at the margin, raised on surface media, velvety.

Material examined: THAILAND, Chiang Mai Province, Mae Taeng District, Mushroom Research Foundation (MRF), on Pandanus sp., 16 December 2017, S. Tibpromma P02 (MFLU 18-0124, holotype; HKAS 101790, isotype); ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 18-0109, GenBank numbers LSU: MH260305; SSU: MH260345; TEF1: MH412777; RPB2: MH412757.

Notes: Musicillium was described from several hosts (Theobroma, Cacao and Musa). Phylogenetic analysis and a morphological comparison revealed that our new strain is closely related to M. theobromae (Turconi) Zare & W. Gams (CBS 548.51), but M. theobromae has conidiophores which are clearly distinct from the vegetative hyphae, brown 3-6 (rarely solitary), subhyaline, 17-35 × 1.5-2.7 μm phialides, and hyaline, cylindrical, symmetrically rounded, 4-6.5(-9) × 1.0-1.7(-2) μm conidia, adhering in slimy heads (Zare et al. 2007). In a blastN search on NCBI GenBank, the closest matches of ITS sequence of MFLUCC 18-0109 is M. theobromae with 98% identity to the strain NZD-mf44 (AJ292422).