Distoseptispora adscendens (Berk.) R. Zhu & H. Zhang, Journal of Fungi 1063: 8 (2022)

Index Fungorum number: IF 559917; Mycobank number: MB 559917; Facesoffungi number: FoF 12574; Fig. 1

Saprobic on unidentified decaying stems in terrestrial habitat. Sexual morph: Not observed. Asexual morph: Colonies effuse, scattered, hairy, brown to dark brown. Mycelium mostly immersed, composed of branched, septate, brown, smooth hyphae. Conidiophores macronematous, mononematous, brown to dark brown, solitary, 1–4 septate, erect, straight or slightly flexuous, unbranched, smooth, cylindrical, 22–48 μm×6–10 μm (x̅=34 × 8 μm, n = 15). Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, monoblastic, integrated, terminal, determinate, brown, cylindrical, 5.5–10 μm×3–5 μm. Conidia 130–360 μm×13.8–18 μm (x̅=142 × 12 μm, n=15), acrogenous, solitary, obclavate, rostrate, slightly curved, 17– 60 distoseptate, rounded apexes 5–10 μm wide and subcylindrical to conical–truncate basal cells 5–7 μm wide at the base. Cultural characteristics: conidia germinated on PDA within 24 h. Colonies on PDA reaching 15–20 mm diam., after 2 weeks at 25 °C, circular, with fluffy, dense, dark olivaceous brown aerial mycelium on the surface, umbonate at centre; in reverse dark brown with entire margin.

Material examined – India, Karnataka, Madikeri (12°26′11″N, 75°43′40″E), on an unidentified decaying stem, 04 March 2022, Sruthi O. P. and Rajeshkumar K. C., AMH 10633, living culture NFCCI 5692.

GenBank numbers – NFCCI 5692: ITS = OR807983, LSU=OR807984, tef1-α=OR824935.

Notes – Based on a phylogenetic study, Su et al. (2016) accepted Ellisembia adscendens, which was first introduced as Sporidesmium adscendens under Distoseptispora. Yang et al. (2021) introduced Distoseptispora adscendens as a new combination with legitimacy. Our isolate NFCCI 5692, clusters within Distoseptispora adscendens with a 72% ML and 0.99 BYPP support (Fig. 2). Furthermore, the morphology of our isolate resembles the description and illustrations for Distoseptispora adscendens provided by Wu and Zhuang (2005). Morphological characteristics and key distinguishing features of our strain are identical with the Distoseptispora adscendens. Phylogeny using ITS, LSU and tef1-α delineated our strain allied to Distoseptispora adscendens HKUCC 10820 with moderate support. Distoseptispora adscendens is a new geographical record from India (Fig. 1).

Figure 1 – Distoseptispora adscendens (NFCCI 10633 new record) a, b Colonies on natural substrate. c conidia with conidiophores. d–g conidia. h colony on PDA (obverse). i colony on PDA (reverse). Scale bars: a–b=100 μm, c–g=20 μm

Figure 2 – Phylogram generated from the best scoring of the RAxML tree based on combined ITS, LSU, tef1-α and rpb2 sequence dataset to indicate the new species Distoseptispora chiangraiensis and related family in Distoseptisporaceae. Ninety-nine strains are included in the combined analyses which comprise a total of 2909 characters. Pseudistanjehughesia lignicola (MFLUCC 15-0352) and P. aquitropica (MFLUCC 16-0569) are selected as the outgroup taxa. The best RAxML tree with a final likelihood value of − 33,810.150068 is presented. RAxML analysis yielded 1410 distinct alignment patterns and 25.64% of undetermined characters or gaps. Estimated base frequencies were as follows: A=0.234011, C=0.270143, G=0.284578, T=0.211268, with substitution rates AC=1.186820, AG=3.015581, AT=1.143201, CG=0.749208, CT=6.564047, GT=1.000000; gamma distribution shape parameter alpha=0.206169. Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (MLBS, left) equal to or greater than 70% are given above the nodes. Bayesian posterior probabilities (BYPP, right) equal to or greater than 0.95 are given above the nodes. Newly generated sequences are indicated in red bold