Pleosporales » Didymosphaeriaceae » Montagnula

Montagnula donacina

Montagnula donacina (Niessl)Wanas., E.B.G. Jones and K.D. Hyde, Biology 11(no. 1660): 16 (2022)

Index Fungorum number: IF552762; FacesofFungi number: FoF 04638.

Saprobic on decaying wood. Sexual morph: Ascomata 320–400 µm high × 350–440 µm diam. (= 350 × 400 µm, n = 5), immersed-to-erumpent, solitary or scattered, coriaceous, black, with a central ostiole. Ostiole short papillate, 150–190 × 70–90 µm ( = 170 × 80 µm, n = 5), protruding from substratum. Peridium 15–25 µm wide, comprising 4–6 layers of thin-walled, pale-brown-to-brown cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising 1–2 µm wide, hyaline, cylindrical-to-filiform, septate, branching pseudoparaphyses. Asci 70–100 × 10–11 µm ( = 87 × 10.7 µm, n = 15), bitunicate, fissitunicate, 8-spored, elongateclavate, slightly curved, with a long pedicel (30–50 µm long;  = 40 µm, n = 10). Ascospores 14–16 × 4.5–6 µm ( = 14.5 × 5 µm, n = 30), overlapping uni- to bi-seriate, hyaline or yellowish, straight-to-slightly curved, aseptate or 1-septate, guttulate when immature and becoming brown-to-dark-brown when mature, 2-celled, fusiform, rounded ends, 1-septate, constricted at the septum, with slightly pointed upper cell and rounded lower cell, straight to slightly curved, smooth-walled, guttulate, without sheaths or appendages. Asexual morph: undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Colonies on PDA, reaching 90 mm diam. at 14 days at room temperature (25–30 ºC), superficial, circular, rough surface, with sparse mycelia, velvety, flat, zonate, white at the margin and center, light brown between margin and center.

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Jinghong, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (21º55.19´ N, 101º15.24´ E), on dead woody twigs of Ehretia acuminata, 4 March 2020, G.C. Ren, JH27 (HKAS 122782), living culture KUMCC 21-0579; Thailand, Chiang Rai Province, Mae Yao District, on dead woody twigs of Betula sp., 23 September 2019, G.C. Ren, MY22 (MFLU 22-0045), living culture KUMCC 21-0631; Thailand, Tak Province, near Mae Jun river and police school Ban Mea Junta, on dead woody twigs of Betula sp., 21 August 2019, G.C. Ren, T404 (MFLU 22-0046), living culture KUMCC 21-0653.

Notes: Wanasinghe et al. 2016 synonymized Munkovalsaria donacina and M. appendiculate under Montagnula based on the phylogenetic analyses of the combined LSU, SSU, and ITS sequence data. Generally, M. donacina is characterized by immersed-to-erumpent, single, or gregarious ascomata with a single ostiole, bitunicate, clavate or cylindrical asci with a pedicel and an ocular chamber, ellipsoid, unicellular, 1-septate ascospores strongly constricted at the septum with the upper cell wider and the lower cell rounded. The characters of these new isolates (KUMCC 21-0653, KUMCC 21-0579, and KUMCC 21-0631) are similar to M. donacina. The multi-gene phylogenetic analysis based on the combined SSU, LSU, ITS, and tef 1-α sequences showed that our collections (KUMCC 21-0653, KUMCC 21-0579, and KUMCC 21-0631) form a monophyletic group with M. thailandica (MFLUCC 17-1508), M. puerensis (KUMCC 20-0225, KUMCC 20-0331), M. donacina (HFG07004, HVVV01), M. chromolaenicola (MFLUCC 17-1469), M. saikhuensis (MFLUCC 16-0315), and M. graminicola (MFLUCC 13-0352). Based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis, we report our isolations as the first records of M. donacina from decaying wood of E. acuminata and Betula sp. in Thailand. However, our phylogenetic analyses suggest the presence of a possible complex for M. donacina. Hence, extensive studies combining morphology and multi-gene phylogeny of additional samples are necessary.

 

Figure 1. Phylogram generated from ML analysis based on the combined SSU, LSU, ITS, and tef 1- dataset. Bootstrap support values for ML equal to or higher than 75%, and BYPP equal to or greater than 0.90 are shown above the nodes.

 

Figure 2. Montagnula donacina (HKAS 122782). (a,b) Appearance of ascomata on host substrate; (c) section of ascoma; (d) ostiolar neck; (e) peridium; (f) hamathecium; (g–j) asci; (k,l) immature ascospores; (m–q) mature ascospores; (r) germinated ascospore; (s,t) culture characters on PDA (s from above, t from below). Scale bars, (c) 200 µm; (d,h–j) 50 µm; (e,g) 20 µm; (f,k–r) 10 µm; (s,t) 30 mm.

 

References

1. Ren GC, Wanasinghe DN, de Farias ARG, Hyde KD et al. (2022) Taxonomic Novelties of Woody Litter Fungi (Didymosphaeriaceae, Pleosporales) from the Greater Mekong Subregion. Biology, 11, 1660, Doi /10.3390/biology11111660.

 

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