Astrocystis thailandica Daranagama & K. D. Hyde, sp. nov.
Indexfungorum Number: IF 551727, Facesoffungi number: FoF 01637, Fig. 1b
Etymology – Referring to the country, Thailand where the species was collected.
Holotype – MFLU 15–3525

Saprobic on bamboo clumps. Sexual morph Stromata superficial, gregarious, black, shiny, smooth, carbonaceous, multi – peritheciate, with 2 – 3 perithecia, 650 – 1075 × 250 – 375 μm ( x̄ = 720 × 310 μm, n = 10), globose to hemisphaerical, carbonaceous, with black, stellate area of mixed host and stromatic material encircling the base of stromata. Ostioles papillate, black. Peridium >50μm wide, comprising several thick layers of compressed cells, black. Hamathecium comprising numerous, 2 μm wide, filamentous, septate, paraphyses, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 88 – 125 × 8.2 – 12.2μm (x̄ = 93.5 × 10.5 μm, n = 25), 8 – spored, unitunicate, cylindrical – clavate, short pedicellate, apically rounded, with a J+, wedge-shaped apical apparatus, 4.5 – 5 × 2.5 – 3 μm. Ascospores 17 – 24 × 6. 2 – 7 .5 μm (x̄ = 20 × 6.8 μm, n = 25), overlapping uniseriate, dark brown, equilaterally ellipsoidal, unicellular, germ slit full-length or ¾ of the length, with a conspicuous mucilaginous sheath, forming slimy caps at both ends. Asexual morph Undetermined.

Culture characteristics – Colonies on Difco OA plates at 25 – 28 oC reaching 5 cm edge Petri-dish in 2 weeks, at first whitish, felty, azonate, with diffuse margins, after 3 weeks become citrine; reverse turning light brown.

Material examined – THAILAND, Chaing Mai Province, road to Wat Pa Dang, on clumps of fallen bamboo clumps, 14 August 2014, Anupama Daranagama AXL 323 (MFLU 15–3525, holotype, HKAS 92485, isotype), living culture, MFLUCC 15–0009, KIBCC.

Notes – Astrocystis thailandica displayed a close relationship with A. eleiodoxae A. Pinnoi et al., which was also encountered in Thailand on submerged petioles of Eleiodoxa conferta (Pinnoi et al. 2010). However A. thailandica differs from A. eleiodoxae because of its unique characters such as, superficial stromata with black, stellate stromatic material encircling the base, shorter and wider asci and ascospores with a thick, conspicuous mucilaginous sheath forming slimy caps at both ends. According to the phylogenetic analysis the species clustered with other Astrocystis species with 93 bootstrap support forming a monophyletic clade. As well as the phylogenetic analysis of the genus (Fig. 1a) confirmed the placement of Astrocystis thailandica with a high bootstrap support, as a distinct species from other Astrocystis species.

Fig. 1 a Phylogram generated from RAxML analysis based on ITS sequenced data of Astrocystis. Maximum Likelihood values equal or greater than 50 are indicated above or below the nodes and branches. The tree is rooted to Xylaria hypoxylon. Newly introduced taxa in this study are highlighted in blue.b Astrocystis thailandica (holotype) a Stromata on host surface bMulti-peritheciate ascomata c Papillate ostiole d, e Mature asci f Apical apparatus bluing in Melzer’s reagent g Ascospore with straight germslit h, i Developmental stages of ascospores with sheath. Scale bars. a = 2000 μm, b, c = 500 μm, d – j = 10 μm.