Comoclathris permunda (Cooke) E. Müll., Monogr. Biol. Soc. Pakistan 8: 68 (1979) [1978]
Index Fungorum number: IF 283403; MycoBank number: MB 283403; Facesoffungi number: FoF 03231; Fig. 1
≡ Sphaeria permunda Cooke, Grevillea 5(no. 35): 111 (1877)
Saprobic on dead herbaceous branches. Sexual morph Ascomata 190–250 μm high, 200–280 μm diam. (x̅=226.5×243 μm, n=10), semi immersed to erumpent, solitary, scattered, dark brown to black, coriaceous, cupulate when dry, with brown to reddish brown. Peridium 10–15 μm wide at the base, 15–30 μm wide in sides, comprising two layers, outer layer heavily pigmented, thin-walled, comprising blackish to dark brown cells of textura angularis, inner layer composed of hyaline, thin-walled cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising numerous, 2.5–4.5 μm ( x̅=3 μm, n=20) wide, filamentous, branched, septate, pseudoparaphyses. Asci 80–120×18–24 μm ( x̅=103×20 μm, n=20), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindric-clavate, with a 10–15 μm long pedicel, thick-walled at the apex, with a minute ocular chamber. Ascospores 20–30 × 8–12 μm (x̅= 25 × 11 μm, n = 30), overlapping 1–2-seriate, muriform, mostly ellipsoidal, 3−4 transversely septate, with 1 vertical septum, constricted at the septa, initially hyaline, becoming brown at maturity, conically rounded at the ends, surrounded by 3–6 μm thick, hyaline, mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph Undetermined.
Material examined – UZBEKISTAN, Jizzakh Province, Zaamin District, Zaamin National Nature Park, Ettisuv River, Turkestan range of Pamir-Alay Mountains, on dead aerial stem of Achillea sp. (Asteraceae), 11 July 2019, Yusufjon Gafforov, YG-Z12-1 (TASM 6159, KUN-HKAS 115786, reference specimen).
GenBank numbers – ITS = MZ493294, LSU = MZ493308, SSU = MZ493280, RPB2 = MZ508415.
Notes – Comoclathris permunda was introduced by Müller (1977) and the taxon was reported on different hosts from various countries. Thambugala et al. (2017) collected a similar species to C. permunda (Müller 1977) in Italy on Phleum pratense and designated a reference specimen of this species. They also confirmed its phylogenetic affiliation in Comoclathris. Our new collection, TASM 6159 (from Uzbekistan), which fits with the original description of Comoclathris permunda (Müller 1977) and the description of Thambugala et al. (2017) in having solitary, dark brown to black ascomata that are cupulate when dry, cylindric-clavate, pedicellate asci with a minute ocular chamber, brown, ellipsoidal, 3–4 transversely septate, with 1 vertical septum ascospores with conically rounded ends (Fig. 1). In the phylogenetic analysis of combined SSU, LSU, ITS, and RPB2 sequence dataset to indicated that our new strain is monophyletic with Comoclathris permunda (MFLUCC 14-0974) with 100% MLBS support (Fig. 2).
Figure 1 – Comoclathris permunda (TASM 6159, reference specimen). a–c Appearance of ascomata on host surface. d Longitudinal section of an ascoma. e Section of the peridium. f Pseudoparaphyses. g–i Asci. j–l Ascospores surrounded by with a mucilaginous sheath. Scale bars: d=50 μm, e, j–l=10 μm, f=5 μm, g–i=20 μm
Figure 2 – Phylogram generated from the best scoring of the RAxML tree based on a combined SSU, LSU, ITS, and RPB2 sequence dataset to indicate the species in Comoclathris. Twenty-six strains are included in the combined analyses which comprise a total of 3318 characters. Phaeosphaeriopsis dracaenicola (MFLUCC 11-0157, MFLUCC 11-0193) is selected as the outgroup taxon. The best RAxML tree with a final likelihood value of − 11070.111652 is presented. RAxML analysis yielded 691 distinct alignment patterns and 19.26% of undetermined characters or gaps. Estimated base frequencies were as follows: A=0.25654, C=0.224566, G=0.266202, T=0.252692, with substitution rates AC=1.928472, AG=4.365502, AT=1.451146, CG=1.060614, CT=9.003466, GT=1.000000; gamma distribution shape parameter alpha=0.483396. Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (MLBS) equal to or greater than 60% is given above the nodes. Ex-type strains are in bold and newly generated sequence is in blue