Acrogenospora sphaerocephala
Acrogenospora sphaerocephala (Berk. & Broome) M.B. Ellis, Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes: 114 (1971)
Index Fungorum number: IF308236 Facesoffungi number: FoF04687
Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Colonies sparse, scattered, black, glistening, hairy. Mycelium mostly immersed, consisting of septate, thin-walled, smooth, hyaline to pale brown hyphae. Conidiophores macronematous, mononematous, (155–)215–320(–360) × (3.5–)4.8–7.5(–9.5) μm (x̄ = 275 × 6 μm, n = 15), solitary, erect, mostly flexuous, septate, slightly tapering towards the apex, mid to dark brown, paler and rounded at the apex, smooth, thick-walled at the base. Conidiogenous cells monoblastic, integrated, intercalary, mid brown, cylindrical, with percurrent proliferations, sometimes flexuous at the proliferation. Conidia acrogenous, 18–30 μm (x̄ = 24 μm, n = 40) diam., holoblastic, olive-green to brown, spherical or subspherical, unicellular, smooth and thick-walled, guttulate, truncate at the base.
Culture characteristics: Conidia germinating on PDA within 24 h. Germ tubes produced from both ends. Colonies on PDA, reaching 5–10 mm diameter after two weeks at 25 °C in natural light, with dense grayish green aerial mycelium on the surface, black in reverse with entire margin.
Material examined: Thailand, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, near 12°30.1950N, 99°31.3500E, on decaying wood submerged in a freshwater stream, 25 December 2014, Jaap van Strien, Site 5-14-2 (MFLU 18-1130, reference specimen designated here), living culture (MFLUCC 16-0179, GZCC 15-0071).
GenBank Accession No: ITS: MH606233, LSU: MH606222, RPB2: MH626448.
Notes: The genus Acrogenospora includes 11 species and two of them have been linked to sexual morphs in Farlowiella. The synonymy of Acrogenospora with Farlowiella has long been accepted based on the distinctive morphology of the asexual morphs (Ellis 1971, 1976; Goh et al. 1998a; Rossman et al. 2015b). The generic name Acrogenospora has been protected over its sexual morph Farlowiella (Rossman et al. 2015b). In this study, molecular data has been generated to support its asexual-sexual connection. Acrogenospora sphaerocephala was designated as the type species in the genus (Ellis 1971) and it is a frequently observed species with a worldwide distribution (Goh et al. 1998a). Phylogenetic analyses indicate that our collection A. sphaerocephala (MFLUCC 16-0179) formed a distinctive branch in the genus, close to A. carmichaeliana (FMR 11021, CBS 179.73, CBS 164.76 and CBS 206.36). However, the identification of these A. carmichaeliana (Berk.) Rossman & Crous collections is questionable as only molecular sequence data was provided and sequence data is unavailable for the ex-type strain. Acrogenospora sphaerocephala was thought to be the asexual morph of F. carmichaeliana due to the information in GenBank. It must be wrongly identified as A. megalospora was introduced as the asexual morph of Farlowiella carmichaeliana (Ellis 1971; Goh et al. 1998a) and the combination of the holomorph species was suggested as Acrogenospora carmichaeliana (Rossman et al. 2015b). Our collection was identified as A. sphaerocephala with the morphological characters well-matched with the original diagnosis. Acrogenospora sphaerocephala is morphologically similar to A. megalospora except A. sphaerocephala has globose conidia, while A. megalospora produces broadly ellipsoidal or obovoid conidia (Ellis 1971; Goh et al. 1998a; Cai et al. 2006). Additionally, our collection has similar size of conidiophores (155–360 × 3.5–9.5 μm) with given by Ellis (1971) (up to 380 μm long, 5–8 μm wide at the apex and 9–11 μm wide at the base) and similar conidial size (18–30 μm, x̄ = 24 μm) with given by Ellis (1971) (15–33 × 14–33 μm, x̄ = 28 × 27 μm). Thus, a reference specimen for A. sphaerocephala is designated here.
Figure X. Acrogenospora sphaerocephala (MFLU 18-1130, reference specimen). a Colony on substrate. b, c Conidiophores with conidia. d, e Conidiophores. f, g Conidiogenous cells with conidia. h–j Conidia. k Germinated conidium on PDA. l, m Culture (l from above view, m from below view). Scale bars: a = 200 μm, b–d = 100 μm, e–g = 50 μm, h = 30 μm, k = 20 μm, i, j = 10 μm.
Reference: Hyde KD, Tennakoon DS, Jeewon R, Bhat DJ, et al. (2019) Fungal diversity notes 1036–1150: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa. Fungal Diversity 96(1): 1–242.
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