Loculosulcatispora G.C. Ren & K.D. Hyde, gen. nov.

Index Fungorum number: IF557580, Facesoffungi number: FoF 07977

Etymology:—From the combination of two words ‘loculo’ and ‘sulcatispora’ referring to loculate conidiomata in Sulcatisporaceae

Saprobic on decaying wood. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Conidiomata solitary, scattered, immersed or semi-immersed, conical, ostiolate, black, multilocular. ostioles single or multiple, central, short. Peridium outer layer comprising dark pigmented cells of textura angularis, inner layer comprising hyaline cells of textura angularis. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells arising from the stratum, hyaline, doliiform to cylindrical, aseptate, unbranched, holoblastic, determinate, smooth-walled. Conidia hyaline, oblong, one- celled, smooth-walled, guttulate.

Type species:—Loculosulcatispora thailandica G.C. Ren & K.D. Hyde

Notes:—We compared our new genus with the species of hyaline coelomycetesin Li et al. (2020). Loculosulcatispora

is similar to Botryosphaeria, Ciliosporella, Cornutispora, Melanops, Neodermea, Neodidymelliopsis, Neofusicoccum, Phacidium and Sakireeta in having multi-locular pycnidia. However, Loculosulcatispora differs by its conidial characteristics. In the phylogenetic analysis Loculosulcatispora clusters in Sulcatisporaceae with Magnicamarosporium, Neobambusicola and Sulcatispora and is similar to these genera in having scattered, immersed, subglobose or conical, black pycnidia with a central ostiole (Crous et al. 2014, Tanaka et al. 2015, Phookamsak et al. 2019). However, Loculosulcatispora differs in having hyaline, aseptate, oblong, guttulate conidia. Magnicamarosporium species have muriform and dark brown conidia. Sulcatispora species have ellipsoid, yellowish brown, multi-septate conidia with striate ornamentation. Neobambusicola species have hyaline fusoid-ellipsoid, finely guttulate, 1-septate conidia that are constricted at the septum (Crous et al. 2014, Tanaka et al. 2015, Phookamsak et al. 2019). Detailed morphological comparison of genera in Sulcatisporaceae is shown in Table 2. Loculosulcatispora is phylogenetically well-separated from other genera in this family. Therefore, we introduce Loculosulcatispora as a new genus of Sulcatisporaceae.

TABLE 2. Synopsis of characters of Loculosulcatispora, Magnicamarosporium, Neobambusicola and Sulcatispora species (Sulcatisporaceae).

Genera Conidiomata Ostiole Conidiogenous cells Paraphyses Conidia References
Loculosulcatispora Black, conical, immersed or semi-immersed, scattered, multilocular Black, subglobose to ovoid, single or multiple Hyaline, doliiform to cylindrical, holoblastic, arising from around stratum Hyaline, aseptate, unbranched Hyaline, oblong, one-celled, guttulate This study
Magnicamarosporium Dark brown to Dark brown, Hyaline, cylindrical Filamentous, Dark brown, Tanaka et al.
black, globose, immersed, scattered, single cavity papillate to short

cylindrical, periphyses

to doliiform, holoblastic to annellidic septate, sometimes branched subglobose to obovoid, muriform (2015)
Neobambusicola Dark brown, globose, erumpent, separate or aggregated Opening via central ostiole Hyaline, subcylindrical to ampulliform, phialidic Absent Hyaline,

fusoid-ellipsoid, prominently guttulate, medially 1- septate

Crous et al. (2014)
Sulcatispora Black, immersed, globose, scattered, single cavity Dark brown, short papillate, periphyses Hyaline, cylindrical, annellidic Absent Yellowish brown, ellipsoid, with striate ornamentation, multi-septate Tanaka et al. (2015)