Benniella erionia Liber & Bonito, sp. nov.
MycoBank number: MB 833779; Index Fungorum number: IF 833779; Facesoffungi number: FoF;
Etymology: “erionia” – from the Greek “erion” meaning “wool”. This describes the appearance of the mycelium as unpatterned, light colored, and wooly.
Description: Colonies on MEA are pure white, and do not produce rosettes or patterning. Hyphae are sterile, without observed sporangiophores or zygospores, and are 3.63 ± 0.09 μm (mean ± SEM) in diameter. Terminal structures borne on axillary hyphae are swollen and irregularly branched, and in older cultures, these become darkened and resemble chains of spherical chlamydospores, each spore 10.7 ± 1.89 μm. Growth rates on PDA ½ + YE are 6.6–9.5 μm/min (min and max of 3 replicates) at room temperature (RT), and 5.0–8.5 μm/min at 30 °C. On MEA + YE, growth rates are 4.9–8.4 μm/min at RT, and 4.9–5.2 μm/ min at 30 °C.
Habitat: The type specimen (isolate GBAus27B) was cultured from soils collected in woodland of Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla in Australia, on sandy gravels on low divides in the subhumid zones. Isolates were baited from soils using sterilized arthropod exoskeletons. The other B. erionia isolate in this study, INSO1-46B2, was isolated from soybean field soil in Indiana, USA.
Type specimen: AUSTRALIA, Western Australia, Camballan, sub-humid upland forest woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla. 24 Sept. 2014, G.M. Bonito, FLAS-F-66497 (holotype) [MBT#392648].