Ramariopsis atlantica Araujo-Neta, Silva & Gibertoni.
MycoBank: MB816940 Facesoffungi number: FoF02464
Etymology: referring to the Atlantic Rain Forest.
Holotype: URM 84210.
Basidiomata branched, 5–3.2 cm, with dichotomous, erect and cylindrical branches, solitary to gregarious, white (2B) when fresh, beige to straw when dry (52B, 50S). Basidiospores broadly ellipsoid, 4 x 3 um, Q = 1.33, hyaline to pale yellow, guttulate or not, echinulate, spines 0.2–0.5 um, IKI-. Hyphal system monomitic, tramal hyphae hyaline to yellow in mass, 2–3 um, conspicuously clamped, some inflated up to 10 um, hardly clamped; subhymenium loose. Cystidia of any kind absent, but hyphal ends resembling gloeocystidia occasionally present. Hymenium collapsed, basidia not seen.
Material examined: BRAZIL, Pernambuco, Tamandare ´, Reserva Biolo ´gica de Saltinho, July 2011, L.S. AraujoNeta (URM 84210 holotype, isotype in O). BRAZIL, Pernambuco, Tamandare ´, Reserva Biologica de Saltinho, July 2011, L.S. Araujo-Neta (URM 84213). A culture was obtained from URM 84213 and deposited in the URM Culture Collection (URM 6985).
Notes: Ramariopsis atlantica was collected as several basidiomata scattered on soil and is characterized by branched basidiomata, with dichotomous, cylindrical branches, inflated hyphae and echinulate, ellipsoid to subglobose basidiospores. Ramariopsis kunzei (Fr.) Corner has similar basidiomata (branched, whitish), but smaller basidiospores (3–4.5 x 2.5–3 um, minutely echinulate, verruculose or asperulate). Ramariopsis atlantica was placed in a separated, well supported subclade (100/1.0), closely related with good support (81/0.97) to R. aff. kunzei and R. tenuiramosa Corner. The new species can be distinguished from R. tenuiramosa by the larger basidiospores (3.5–4.5 x 3–3.5 um in R. tenuiramosa) (Corner 1950, 1970). Additionally, R. atlantica was distantly related to all specimens identified as R. kunzei from the USA and the UK.
Phylogenetic tree of the Clavulinopsis and Ramariopsis obtained by analyses from rDNA sequences. Taxa with two accession numbers were analyzed by concatenated ITS and partial LSU rDNA; only the partial LSU rDNA was used to analyze the other individuals. Support values (from top) are maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analyses. Sequences obtained in this study are in boldface. Only support values of at least 50 % are shown. The tree was rooted with Clavaria acuta
Ramariopsis atlantica (holotype). a Basidiomata. b Hyphae with clamps. c Hyphal ends resembling gloeocystidia. d Basidiospores, one of them germinating. Scale bars a = 1 cm, b = 20 um