Mortierella pisiformis H.M. Ho, S.F. Wei & K. Voigt, sp. nov.
MycoBank:MB811959; Facesoffungi number: FoF01016; Figs. 1 and 2
Etymology: From the Latin pisiformis, meaning peashaped, in reference to the shape of spores.
Holotype: TNMF 28604
Colonies grown on PDA at 25 °C for 7 days, reaching 9 cm in diameter, white, with abundant aerial hyphae, turf cottony. On CMA, aerial hyphae dispersed, creeping on the agar surface. Sporangiophores developing from creeping aerial hyphae, simple or with 1 – 2 branches arising from the lower portion near base, 643 – 874.5 μm long, 10 – 12.5 μm wide near base, tapering upward, becoming 2.5 – 5 μm wide near sporangium, basal rhizoid absent or with one simple rhizoid. Sporangia globose, multisporous, hyaline, 25.5 – 33 μm in diam., wall smooth, after deliquescence leaving indistinct columellae and trace of collar. Spores ellipsoid, pea – shaped, hyaline, surface smooth, 7.5 – 10 × 12.5 – 15 μm. Chlamydospores globose, 15 – 23 μm in diam., submerged in agar medium or on the agar surface, usually on short hyphae terminal, sometimes in chains. Zygospores not observed. Odour faint.
Material examined: TAIWAN, Taichung City, Dongshi Forest Garden, from leaf litter, December 2013, by S.F. Wei, TEFA4 (TNMF 28604, holotype), BCRC FU30283, living culture deposited at Jena Microbial Resource Collection (University of Jena and Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany) (JMRC: SF:012101).
Other specimen: Taichung City, Dongshi Dist., from leaf litter, Decembe 2013, S-F Wei. TEFA5 = BCRC FU30284
Notes: According to Gams (1977), this fungus belongs to Section Hygrophila, and is similar to M. Beljakovae Mil’ko, M. parazychae W. Gams and M. zychae Linnem. by having the following characters in common: multisporous sporangia; sporangiophores longer than 120 μm, basitonous ramification and with chlamydospores aggregated in rows or clusters. However, this fungus can be differentiated from the other three by spore shape, which is pea-shaped, ellipsoid in the former and is more or less globose in M. beljokovae, ellipsoid to cylindrical in the other two species. Molecular data revealed that our two isolates are clustered in on clade and can be separated from the other species of Mortierella in phylogenetic tree of ITS region. We thus identified this fungus as a new species.
Fig. 1 Mortierella pisiformis (TEFA5) a Photograph of fresh culture taken with a stereomicroscope; b – d, f, l, m; e, g, SEM. a Habit on CMA b Sporangiophore with branch c Columellae (arrow) and collar (arrow head) Spores e Spores f Chlamydospores g Chlamydospores. Scales bars: a = 300 μm, b = 100 μm, c, f = 20 μm, d, g = 10 μm, e = 5 μm.
Fig. 2 Cultures of M. pisiformis (TEFA5). Left: top view, Right: bottom view.