Vanderaaea ammophilae Crous, sp. nov.

MycoBank number: MB 838083; Index Fungorum number: IF 838083; Facesoffungi number: FoF;  Fig. 16.

Etymology: Name reflects Ammophila, the host genus it was collected from.

Conidiomata up to 350 µm diam, sporodochial, round, erumpent, green-brown, giving rise to a mucoid conidial mass. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells, pale brown, smooth, ampulliform to subglobose, 4–6 × 2–3 µm, proliferating holoblastically. Conidia solitary, hyaline, smooth, 0–1-septate, septum submedian, fusoid, flexuously curved, apical cell developing into a long flexuous apical appendage with subobtuse tip, basal cell tapering towards truncate hilum, 1 µm diam; conidia (20–)21–22(–24) × (1.5–)2 µm, apical cell 11–14 µm long, basal cell 7–10 µm long.

Typus: Netherlands, Texel, “De Krim”, on dead leaves of Ammophila arenaria, 26 Oct 1968, H.A. van der Aa (holotype CBS H-18325; culture ex-holotype CBS 886.68).

Notes:   Isolate   CBS   886.68   was   originally   identified   as Spermospora avenae, but is quite distinct in having sporodochial

conidiomata, and 0–1-septate, flexuously curved conidia. The species is distinct from all species treated here as belonging to Acarosporales (Lecanoromycetes) by forming sporodochia with curved, 0–1-septate conidia (Fig. 1, part 1).

Fig. 1. Consensus phylogram (50 % majority rule) resulting from a Bayesian analysis of the LSU sequence alignment. Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP) > 0.89 are shown at the nodes and thickened lines represent nodes with PP = 1.00. The scale bar represents the expected changes per site. Families, orders and classes are indicated with coloured blocks to the right of the tree. GenBank accession and/or culture collection numbers are indicated behind the species names. The tree was rooted to Candida broadrunensis (GenBank KY106372.1) and the taxonomic novelties described in this study are indicated in bold face.

Fig. 1. (Continued)

Fig. 16. Vanderaaea ammophilae (CBS 886.68). A. Sporulating colony on oatmeal agar. B–D. Conidiogenous cells giving rise to conidia. E. Conidia. Scale bars = 10 µm.