Bambusicola thailandica Phookamsak, D.Q. Dai & K.D. Hyde, sp. nov.  Index Fungorum number: IF552023

Etymology: The epithet Bthailandica^ refers to the country where the fungus was collected.

Holotype: MFLU 11–0183

Saprobic on dead bamboo culms. Sexual morph: Ascostromata 90–155 μm high, 310–400 μm diam., solitary, scattered to gregarious, immersed in host cortex to semi-immersed, erumpent through host tissue at maturity, visible as raised, dark spots on host surface, with flattened base, convex or dome-shaped, wedge-shaped at sides, uniloculate, glabrous, with centrally located ostiole, with a clypeus and flattened tope. Peridium 14–28 μm wide, thin-to thick-walled, of unequal thickness, poorly developed at the base, composed of several layers of dark brown to black, pseudoparenchymatous cells intermixed with host cells, arranged in a textura angularis to textura epidermoidea, coriaceous. Hamathecium of dense, 1–2 μm wide, filamentous, indistinctly septate, smooth-walled, cellular pseudoparaphyses, anastomosing at the apex, embedded in a hyaline, gelatinous matrix. Asci (60–)70– 90(−97) × 10–12(−14) μm (x = 75.5 × 12 μm, n = 20), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, broadly cylindrical to cylindri-clavate, with a short pedicel, apically rounded with well-developed ocular chamber. Ascospores (16–)18– 22(−24) × (3.5–)4–6 μm (x = 20.8 × 5 μm, n = 30), overlapping, uni- to bi-seriate, hyaline, fusiform, with acute ends, 3-septate, slightly constricted at the median septum, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characters: Colonies on MEA fast growing, 65– 70 mm diam. after 4 weeks at 25–30 °C, under 12 h light/12 h dark, circular, medium dense, flat, slightly raised, smooth, with entire edge, fluffy to floccose, white to cream, reverse white to cream at the margin, reddish grey to greenish grey at middle, pale grey at the center, slightly radiating, not producing pigments.

Material examined: THAILAND, Chiang Rai Province, Muang District, Mae Fah Luang University campus grounds, on dead culms of bamboo, 13 August 2010, R. Phookamsak, RP0063 (MFLU 11–0183, holotype), ex-type living cultures, MFLUCC 11–0147, KUMCC.

Notes: Bambusicola thailandica is morphylogically similar to B. triseptatispora in having phragmospores, however, differs from latter in having a thiner and lighter peridium. Moreover, ascomata in B. thailandica have a flattened top,whereas, these in B. triseptatispora are pointed. Bambusicola thailandica forms a distinct clade in multigene analyses, at the base of Bambusicola, whereas B. triseptatispora clusters with B. loculata (Fig. 8).

FIG 11 Bambusicola thailandica (MFLU 11–0183, holotype). a Appearance of ascomata on host surface; b Vertical section through ascoma; c, d Section through peridium; e Pseudoparaphyses; f–h Asci; i–m Ascospores; n, o Culture characteristics (upper and lower sides); Scale bars: b = 100 μm, c–h = 20 μm, i–m=5 μm