Wolfiporiella macrospora X.H. Ji, L.W. Zhou & S.L. Liu, sp. nov.
Index Fungorum number: IF 901059; Mycobank number: MB 901059; Facesoffungi number: FoF 14812; Figs. 1, 2
Etymology – macrospora (Lat.) referring to the large basidiospores.
Holotype – LWZ 20170821–7 (HMAS).
Diagnosis – Differing from other species of Wolfiporiella by having large basidiospores.
Basidiomes annual, resupinate, soft to juicy when fresh, without odour or taste, becoming fragile, light in weight when dry, up to 15 cm long, 12 cm wide and 5 mm thick. Pore surface buff yellow when fresh, white when bruised, buff to pinkish buff when dry; sterile margin distinct, buff, up to 5 mm wide; pores round to angular, 4–6 per mm; dissepiments thin, lacerate. Context vinaceous buff, corky, very thin, up to 2 mm thick. Tubes concolourous with the pore surface, fragile, up to 2 mm long.
Hyphal system dimitic in trama, monomitic in context; generative hyphae simple septate; skeletal hyphae dominant; IKI–, CB–. Generative hyphae in context hyaline, fairly thick-walled with a large lumen, frequently branched, simple septate, agglutinated, 6–11 µm in diam. Generative hyphae in tube hyaline, thin- to slightly thick-walled, frequently branched, simple septate, 3.5–5 μm in diam; skeletal hyphae frequent, pale yellow, thick-walled with a narrow lumen, unbranched, aseptate, interwoven, 4–6 μm in diam. Basidia broadly clavate to barrel-shaped with four sterigmata and a basal simple septum, 13–15×5–7 µm; basidioles similar to basidia in shape, but smaller. Basidiospores ellipsoid, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, IKI–, CB+, 5–6.1(–7) × (3.4–)3.6–4.1 µm, L=5.7 µm, W=3.8 µm, Q=1.5 (n=60/2).
Material examined – China, Hubei Province, Danjiangkou County, Wudangshan Scenic Area, on base of dead angiosperm, 21 August 2017, L.W. Zhou, LWZ 20170821–7 (HMAS, holotype); ibid., on stump of angiosperm, 21 August 2017, L.W. Zhou, LWZ 20170821–8 (HMAS).
GenBank numbers – LWZ 20170821–7: ITS=OR557256, LSU = OR527287; LWZ 20170821–8: ITS= OR557257, LSU=OR527288.
Notes – Phylogenetically, Wolfiporiella macrospora falls within the clade of Wolfiporiella and has a close relationship with Wolfiporiella cartilaginea and W. dilatohypha (Fig. 3). Morphologically, the latter two species differ by smaller basidiospores (3.2–4.5×2.2–3 µm in W. cartilaginea, Ryvarden et al. 1986; 3.8–4.7×2.9–3.1 µm in W. dilatohypha, Dai et al. 2011).
Figure 1 – Basidiomes of Wolfiporiella macrospora (LWZ 20170821– 7, holotype). Scale bars: a=1 cm, b=1 mm
Figure 2 – Microscopic structures of Wolfiporiella macrospora (LWZ 20170821–7, holotype). a Basidiospores. b A vertical section of basidiomes. c Hyphae from subiculum. Scale bars: 10 μm
Figure 3 – Phylogeny generated by the maximum likelihood algorithm based on combined ITS and nLSU regions is presented along with the bootstrap values and the Bayesian posterior probabilities above 50% and 0.8, respectively, at the nodes. Pycnoporellus fulgens CA-20 and Sparassis crispa AFTOL ID 703 were selected as the outgroup taxa. Holotypes are in bold and the newly generated sequences are in blue