Kirschsteiniothelia aethiops (Sacc.) D. Hawksw., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 91(1–2): 185 (1985).

≡ Amphisphaeria aethiops Sacc., Syll. fung. (Abellini) 1: 722 (1882).

MycoBank number: MB 104401; Index Fungorum number: IF 104401; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01738; Fig. 40

Saprobic on decaying wood submerged in freshwater habitats. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Colonies on the natural substrate superficial, effuse, gregarious, hairy, dark brown to black. Mycelium immersed, composed of septate, branched, thin-walled, smooth, pale brown hyphae. Coinidiophores 148–228 µm ( x̄ = 188 µm, SD = 40, n = 20) long, 6–8 μm ( x̄ = 7 µm, SD = 1, n = 20) wide, mononematous, macronematous, septate, usually with one or a number of short branches near apex, erect, straight or flexuous, smooth, brown to dark brown, gradually paler towards the apex, cylindrical, septate. Conidiogenous cells 25–33 µm ( x̄ = 29 µm, SD = 4, n = 20) long, 5–7 μm ( x̄ = 6 µm, SD = 1, n = 20) wide, tretic, integrated, sometimes percurrent, terminal, subhyaline to pale brown, doliiform or lageniform, new cell developing from apical or subapical part of subtending cell. Conidia 41–53 µm ( x̄ = 47 µm, SD = 6, n = 40) long, 12–16 μm ( x̄ = 14 µm, SD = 2, n = 40) wide, acrogenous, solitary, dry, cylindrical, sometimes clavate, rounded at the apex, 3–4-septate, constricted and darkly pigmented at the septa, smooth, brown.

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, saprobic on submerged decaying wood in a freshwater stream in Laojunshan Mountain, H.W. Shen, June 2017, S-1322.

Sequence data: ITS: MH793539, LSU: MH793545, SSU: MH793556.

Notes: Kirschsteiniothelia aethiops is the generic type of Kirschsteiniothelia. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS, LSU and SSU sequence data showed that our strains (S-1322 and S-1406) are identical to the strains of K. aethiops (Fig. 38). The morphology of our isolates also fit well with K. aethiops (Su et al. 2016).

Fig. 38 Phylogram generated from maximum likelihood analysis (RAxML) of Kirschsteiniotheliales based on ITS, LSU and SSU sequence data. Maximum likelihood bootstrap values equal or above 70%, Bayesian posterior probabilities equal or above 0.90 (MLBS/ PP) are given at the nodes. Isolate/specimen number is noted after the species name. The tree is rooted to Pleospora herbarum (CBS 191.86, MFLUCC 14–0920). The ex-type strains are indicated in bold. Hyphen (-) represents support values below 70% MLBS and 0.90 PP

Fig. 40 Kirschsteiniothelia aethiops (S-1322) a Colonies on natural substrate. b, c Conidiophores with conidia. d, e Conidiogenous cells. f–i Conidia. j Germinating conidium. k, l Culture on PDA from surface and reverse. Scale bars: b = 90 μm, c = 70 μm, d, e = 40 μm, f–i = 15 μm, j = 30 μm