Sporisorium Ehrenb. ex Link, in Willdenow, Sp. pl., Edn 4 6(2): 86 (1825).
Index Fungorum number: IF 16327; MycoBank number: MB 16327
Sporisorium is a grass-infecting genus of smut fungi. It is characterized by sori formed in different parts of the inflorescence or destroying the entire inflorescence, sometimes also comprising the upper part of the stem. The sori are initially enclosed by a thick, brownish peridium that later ruptures irregularly exposing a single, stout columella surrounded by a mass of spores and sterile cells. Until ten years ago, with 326 species Sporisorium was perceived by far the most species-rich genus of smut fungi. A new concept for Ustilago, Sporisorium, and Macalpinomyces was proposed by McTaggart et al. (2012a, b). In its modern circumscription, Sporisorium comprises 198 species (Vánky 2011, 2013; Denchev et al. 2012, 2016; McTaggart et al. 2012b; Denchev and Denchev 2013, 2016; Wang et al. 2015). During an examination of specimens of grasses in the herbarium MA of the Real Jardín Botánico (Madrid, Spain), a smut fungus belonging to Sporisorium was found on a specimen of Anadelphia leptocoma (MA 690545) from Burkina Faso. Based on distinct morphology and phylogenetic evidence (Fig. 1), this fungus is introduced here as a novel species.
Figure 1 – Most likely tree generated using maximum likelihood analysis (RAxML 8.2.11, Stamatakis 2014) based on concatenated MAFFT v7.450 (Katoh and Standley 2013) alignments of ITS and LSU dataset. The tree is rooted with Mycosarcoma maydis Bref. and M. mackinlayi (McTaggart & R.G. Shivas) McTaggart et al. Values at nodes indicate bootstrap values inferred by 1000 replicates; only values≥60% are shown
Species