Kirschsteiniothelia zizyphifolii
Kirschsteiniothelia zizyphifolii N. Afshari & de Farias, in Gomes de Farias, Afshari, Hittanadurage Silva, Louangphan, Karimi & Boonmee, MycoKeys 101: 358 (2024)
Index Fungorum number: IF 901382; Facesoffungi number: FoF 14981
Saprobic on Nayariophyton zizyphifolium (Malvaceae) woody litter in terrestrial habitat. Sexual morph: Not observed. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetes. Colonies on the substratum are superficial, effuse, dark brown to black and hairy. Mycelia superficial, composed of septate, branched, smooth-walled, dark brown hyphae. Conidiophores 287–444.5 × 10.3 –17 (–19.7) μm (x̄ = 358.5 × 13.4 μm, n = 15), macronematous, mononematous, erect, with several short branches near the apex, irregular, solitary, cylindrical, flexuous, sometimes slightly straight, dark brown to black, paler towards the apex, septate, smooth-walled. Conidiogenous cells 11–20.4 × 5.8–10.6 μm (x̄ = 14.6 × 7.6 μm, n = 25), tretic, occasionally percurrent, integrated, terminal or intercalary, cylindrical or doliiform, brown, smooth-walled. Conidia (29.5–) 37.6–46.5 × 13.5–19 μm (x̄ = 43 × 16 μm, n = 20), acrogenous, solitary, cylindrical to rarely clavate, rounded at the apex, straight or moderately curved, brown dark to brown, 2–3-septate, constricted and pigmented at the septa, smooth-walled.
Culture characteristics: Ascospores germinating on PDA within 24 hours, reaching up to 30 mm diam. after one week at room temperature. Germ tubes germinated from both end cells. Colony dense, circular, velvety, narrow towards the edge, from front, grey at centre, black towards edge, from reverse, black.
Material examined: Thailand, Chiang Rai, Mae Fa Luang, Doi Tung Forest, on dead wood of Nayariophyton zizyphifolium, 26 March 2022, N. Afshari 1C1T2R4b (MFLU23–0415, holotype), ex-type living culture MFLUCC 23–0270.
Notes: Kirschsteiniothelia zizyphifolii (MFLUCC 23–0270) resembles K. lignicola (MFLUCC 10–0036) and K. emarceis (MFLU 10–0037) in having erect and branched conidiophores with apical dark brown conidia. However, it differs from K. lignicola in the sizes of conidiophores and conidia. Furthermore, BLASTn search of ITS and LSU sequences showed that K. zizyphifolii was closest to K. emarceis with similarity values of 90% (472/522, 12 gaps) and 84% (708/842, 22 gaps), respectively. Furthermore, our isolate (MFLUCC 23–0270) was close to K. lignicola (MFLUCC 10–0036) with similarity values of 89% (ITS = 474/532, 19 gaps), 99% (LSU = 844/853, 2 gaps) and 99% (SSU = 643/648, 2 gaps). Based on these phylogenetic data, we introduce K. zizyphifolii as a new species.
Figure 1. Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree generated from ITS, LSU and SSU sequence data for selected Kirschsteiniotheliales and related Dothideomycetes orders. The tree is rooted with Stemphylium vesicarium (CBS 191.86 and MFLUCC 14–0920). Newly-generated sequences are in blue and new species are in bold. Holotype and ex-type strains are symbolic by “T”. Maximum Likelihood bootstrap (MLBS) values ≥ 70% and Bayesian posterior probabilities (BYPP) ≥ 0.95 are shown at the nodes.
Figure 2. Kirschsteiniothelia zizyphifolii (MFLU 23–0415, holotype) a colonies on wood b–d, g conidiophores and conidiogenous cells e, f conidiophores with conidia h–o conidia p germinated conidium q, r cultures on PDA from the surface and reverse. Scale bars: 200 μm (a); 100 μm (b–d); 50 μm (e, f); 20 μm (g–p).
References
- de Farias ARG, Afshari N, Silva VSH, Louangphan J, Karimi O, Boonmee S (2024) Three novel species and new records of Kirschsteiniothelia (Kirschsteiniotheliales) from northern Thailand. MycoKeys 101: 347–370. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.101.115286
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