Murispora cicognanii

Murispora cicognanii Wanas., Camporesi, E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde, in Wanasinghe, Jones, Camporesi, Wijayawardene, Mortimer, Xu, Bahkali & Hyde, Cryptog. Mycol. 36(4): 437 (2015)

Facesoffungi Number: FoF01108           Index Fungorum number: IF551560

Sexual morph: Ascomata 190–275 µm high 150–250 µm diam. (x̅ = 232.4 × 212.7 µm, n = 10), globose to subglobose, solitary, dark brown to black, immersed, substrate stained purple, fused to the host tissue, ostiolate. ostiole 50–65 µm high 30–60 µm diam. (x̅ = 57.8 × 50.2 µm, n = 5) short to papillate, black, smooth, ostiolar canal filled with periphyses-like structures. peridium 9–14 µm wide at the base, 15–20 µm wide at the sides, comprising 3–4 layers of brown to reddish brown cells textura angularis, with inner 1–2 layers of cells thin–walled and hyaline. hamathecium comprising numerous, 1–2 µm (n = 30) wide, filamentous, branched, septate, pseudoparaphyses. Asci 120–135 × 18–23 µm (x̅ = 129.9 × 20.9 µm, n = 40), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindric-clavate, short pedicellate, thick-walled at the apex, with a minute ocular chamber. Ascospores 30–35 × 10–12 µm (x̅= 34.4 × 10.7 µm, n = 50), overlapping 1–2-seriate, golden yellow turning brown when mature, fusiform, assymetrical with one sides flattened, muriform, with 1–2 longitudinal septa in all cells and rarely in end cells, slightly constricted at  the middle septum, conical and narrowly rounded at the ends, surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Colonies on PDA slow growing, reaching 2 cm diam. after 3 weeks at 16 ºC, light pink when young, reddish brown at maturity, flat on the surface, with mycelium composed of septate, branched hyphae.

Habitat: Saprobicon on dead branches of Clematis sp. (Ranunculaceae), decaying wood submerged in a freshwater stream, on dead herbaceous branches in terrestrial habitats.

Known distribution: China, Italy

Material examined: Italy, Forlì-Cesena, Bagno di Romagna, Valgianna, dead and hanging branches of Clematis vitalba, 2 February 2014, e. Camporesi (MFLU 15–2250, holotype; isotype BBH 39896; ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 14–0953). CHINA, Yunnan Province, saprobic on decaying wood submerged in a freshwater stream in Cangshan Mountain, May 2016, F. Yang, S-757, living  culture (MFLUCC 17–1682).

GenBank numbers: ITS (KT736084), LSU(KT709178), SSU (KT709185), LSU: MK106101, SSU: MK106110, TEF1-a: MK109804.

Notes: Murispora cicognanii was introduced by Wanasinghe et al. (2015) based on a collection from Italy and is only known from the type locality. This species is characterized by globose to subglobose, immersed ascomata, cylindric-clavate, short pedicellate asci with a minute ocular chamber and golden yellow, fusiform, asymmetrical, muriform ascospores, turning brown when mature, with one side flattened and surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath (Wanasinghe et al. 2015).