Stephanophorella stellata (M. Calduch, Gené & Guarro) Réblová & Hern.-Restr., in Réblová, Kolařík, Nekvindová, Miller & Hernández-Restrepo, Microorganisms 9(4, no. 706): 47 (2021)
Index Fungorum number: IF 837811; MycoBank number: MB 837811; Facesoffungi number: FoF 15256; (Figure 20).
Basionym – Zanclospora stellata M. Calduch, Gené & Guarro, Mycologia 94: 131. 2002.
Culture characteristics – On CMD colonies 14–15 mm diam, circular, raised, margin fimbriate, cobwebby, floccose becoming mucoid, deeply furrowed, dark brown, russet towards the periphery, beige at the margin, reverse dark brown. On MLA colonies 20–21 mm diam, circular, convex, margin entire, velvety to cobwebby, floccose, mucoid centrally, deeply furrowed, irregularly folded, dark brown, beige-brown towards the margin, with a dark amber-brown outer zone, reverse brown-black. On OA colonies 20–22 mm diam, circular, raised, margin lobate, mucoid, locally cobwebby to flaky, with shallow irregular folds especially at the margin, dark grey to almost black with olivaceous grey zones, reverse dark olivaceous grey. On PCA colonies 13–16 mm diam, circular, convex, flat towards the periphery, margin subsurface, fimbriate, cobwebby, floccose, furrowed centrally, smooth towards the periphery, beige-brown with a dark brown to dark amber-brown outer zone of submerged growth, reverse black. Sporulation was abundant on CMA, absent on CMD, MLA, OA and PCA.
Description on CMA – Colonies pulvinate, dark brown to black, whitish due to conidial masses on sporulating conidiophores and also covering the surface, vegetative hyphae hyaline, subhyaline to brown, branched, septate, 1.5–3 µm wide. Anamorph: Stroma well-developed at the surface of the colony, consisting of globose to polyhedral, thick-walled, subhyaline to olivaceous-brown cells, ca. 10.5–22 µm diam; cells sometimes arranged in monilioid strands. Conidiophores 125–158 µm long, 4–5.5 µm wide above the base, 6.5–8 µm wide at the fertile region, erect, setiform, pale brown at the midsection and towards the base, dark brown and opaque at the apex, septate, cylindrical to cylindrical-fusiform, base bulbose 2.5–3.5 µm wide with several rhizoids, apex smooth, sterile, acute, with up to six dark brown, opaque, acute, setiform branches arranged in a stellate formation in one or two levels at the apex. Conidiogenous cells monophialidic, 6–8.5 × 3–4 µm, tapering to ca. 1 µm below the collarette, ampulliform to lageniform, tightly appressed to the conidiophore, arranged in groups of 4–6 in 10–15 whorls just below septa; collarette flared, narrowly wedge-shaped to tubular, 1.5–2 × 2–3 µm. Conidia 3–4.5 × (0.5–)1–1.5 µm (mean ± SD = 3.4 ± 0.3 × 1.2 ± 0.1 µm), clavate to oblong-clavate to suballantoid, tapering towards the basal end, rounded at the apical end, with a conspicuous excentric inflated scar at the base, straight or inequilateral, hyaline, aseptate, smooth. Teleomorph: Not observed.
Material examined – Nigeria, Cross River State, Mammo Forest, on unidentified dead fallen leaves, 2 Jun. 1997, M. Calduch, J. Guarro and A. M. Stchigel (culture ex-type CBS 101301 = FMR 6481).
Habitat and geographical distribution – The species is a saprobe on plant debris, known so far from Africa in Nigeria [6].
Notes – For additional description and illustrations, see Calduch et al. [6]. Stephanophorella stellata resembles Zanclospora in setiform conidiophores, lateral, determinate phialides arranged along the midsection in a fertile zone and hyaline conidia, but differs in phialides with a well-defined collarette and a crown of setiform branches at the conidiophore apex.
Figure 20. Stephanophorella stellata (CBS 101301 ex-type). (A–C) Colonies with conidiophores, in detail. (D–G) Conidiophores. (H)Branches arranged in a stellate fashion. (I,J) Conidiogenous cells. (K) Conidia. (L) Colonies on CMD, MLA, OA and PCA after 4 weeks (from left to right). Images: (A–K) on CMA after 6 weeks. Bars: (A) = 500 µm; (B,C) = 200 µm; (D,E) = 20 µm; (F–H) = 10 µm; (I–K) = 5 µm; (L) = 1