Torula submersa W.H. Tian, Y.P. Chen & Maharachch. J. Fungi 9, 150, 10 (2023)
Index Fungorum number: IF847013; MycoBank number: MB847013; Facesoffungi number: FoF16100
Saprobic on submerged decaying wood. Asexual morph: Colonies superficial, effuse, velvety, dark brown. Mycelium mostly immersed, composed of septate, branched, smooth-walled, hyaline hyphae. Conidiophores 4.7–8.8 (–25) × 3.2–5.1 µm (x̅ = 9.2 × 4.4 µm, n = 10), macronematous to semi-macronematous, solitary, erect, smooth, thick-walled, brown, without apical branches, septate, ellipsoidal cells at the apex. Conidiogenous cells 6.2–7 × 5–7 µm (x̅ = 6.8 × 6 µm, n = 10), polyblastic or monoblastic, terminal and intercalary, brown to dark brown, paler at the apex, dry, doliiform to globose, minutely verrucose. Conidia 9.7–23 × 4.8–6.8 µm (x̅ = 17.9 × 5.9 µm, n = 40), acrogenous, phragmosporous, catenate, formed in branched chains, monilioid composed of subglobose cells, brown to dark brown, often paler at the apex, minutely verrucose, 2–5-septate, slightly constricted at septum, Conidial secession schizolytic. Sexual morph: Undetermined.
Culture characteristics – Conidia germinating on PDA within 12 h, and germ tubes produced from both ends. Colonies on PDA reaching 25 mm diameter after 3 weeks at room temperature. Mycelium dry, dense, colonies on the surface of PDA, with regular edge, white to grey. Reverse circular, pale brow to brown, smooth.
Material examined – China, Yunnan Province, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Bamei Town, on submerged decaying wood, 7 February 2022, W.P. Wang, S-3268 (HKAS 131364), living culture KUNCC 23–13730.
Notes – Phylogenetic analysis showed that our new collection (KUNCC 23–13730) clustered with the ex-type strain of Torula submersa with 92% ML/1.00 PP support (Fig. 2). Our new collection resembles T. submersa in having macronematous to semi-macronematous, erect conidiophores, terminal, doliiform conidiogenous cells, and catenated, acrogenous, paler at the apex and similar sized conidia (9.7–23.1 × 4.8–6.8 vs. 6–20 × 4–8) (Tian et al. 2023). Hence, we identify our new collection (KUNCC23–13730) as T. submersa, which has been introduced by Tian et al. (2023) from freshwater habitat in Sichuan Province, China
Figure 1 – Torula submersa (HKAS 131364). a Colonies on the substratum. b–e Conidiophores with conidiogenous cells. f Conidiophores with conidia. g–o conidia. p Germinating conidium. q, r Colonies on PDA from surface and reverse. Scale bars: b–e, j–o = 5 µm, f = 20 µm, g–i, p = 15 µm.
Figure 26 – RAxML tree based on analysis of Torulaceae that combined ITS, LSU, tef1-α, SSU, and rpb2 dataset. The combined analyses include 69 strains with 4166 characters including gaps (ITS: 554 bp, LSU: 806 bp, tef1-α: 812 bp, SSU: 979 bp, and rpb2: 1015 bp). Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (ML) greater than 75% and Bayesian posterior probabilities greater than 0.95 are indicated above branches as ML/PP. The tree is rooted with Neooccultibambusa thailandensis (MFLUCC 16–0274) and Occultibambusa bambusae (MFLUCC 13–0855). The new collections are indicated in red. Ex-type strains are indicated with “T” after the strain number.