Xylaria venosula Speg. Boletín de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Córdoba 11 (4): 511 (1889).
Index Fungorum number: IF 247711; MycoBank number: MB 247711; Facesoffungi number: FoF 09866; Fig. 1
Saprobic on decaying twig. Sexual morph: Ascostromata 1 cm long, superficial, aggregated in clusters, surface undulated, rarely with parallel cracks, with acute apices. Ascomata 340–385×370–450 μm (x̄ =362×406 μm, n=5), globose, erumpent, pulvinate, with central periphysate necks 90–120 × 60–100 μm ( x̄ = 101 × 75 μm, n = 5). Peridium 32 μm wide, with brown to hyaline, textura porrecta cell layers. Hamathecium: paraphyses septate, branched, 2.8 μm wide, longer than asci, sparsely present. Asci 110 –132 × 5.6–8 μm (x̄ =117.5 × 6.6 μm, n = 25), unitunicate, 8–spored, cylindrical, apically rounded with J+apical rings, rings 2.6–3.6 × 1.7–2.3 μm (x̄ = 3.2 × 2 μm, n = 25), long-pedicellate, persistent. Ascospores 12.5 –15.5×4.7–7 μm (x̄=13.6×5.7 μm, n=25), overlapping uniseriate, hyaline to brown at maturity, oblong to navicular, with straight germ slits, uni-guttulate, obtuse ends, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Not observed.
Distribution – Brazil, China, Ecuador, India and USA.
GenBank numbers – MZ292933 (ITS).
Material examined – India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, South Andaman, Mount Harriet, (11° 71′ 09.8″ N 92° 73′ 30.6″ E), recorded on an unidentified decaying log, 7 December, 2017, M. Niranjan and V. V. Sarma (PUFNI 1763). Herbarium submitted in Ajrekar Mycological Herbarium-AMH (AMH-10068) and Living culture (NFCC-4520) deposited in National Fungal Culture Collection of India (NFCCI), Pune.
Notes – The references for descriptions of X. venosula could be found in Index Fungorum (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2937143#page/534/mode/1up) and the global fungal red list (http://iucn.ekoo.se/iucn/species_view/247711). The present taxon has morphological characteristics that are similar to the type and other with slight differences. The present collection consists of paraphyses, smaller asci (109 –132 × 5.6–8 vs. 90–400×7–9) and oblong to navicular, smaller ascospores (12.5 –15.5 × 4.7–7 vs. 14 –18 × 6–7 μm). Geographical distribution of X. venosula in five countries mentioned in distribution (https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?q=Xylaria%20venosula&taxon_key=5487903) and this is the first report of X. venosula from the Andaman Islands, India and as such the present collection extends the geographical distribution and range of this taxon globally (Fig. 2).
Figure 1 – Xylaria venosula (Herbarium AMH-10068, new record) a, d, e Stromata on decaying host, b Vertical section of stromata c Horizontal section of stromata f Paraphyses, g-i Asci j Textura intricata k Peridium, l–m Germinating spore n, o Culture on MEA plates, p Hypha. Scale bars: k=50 μm, f–i=20 μm. j, m, n, p=10 μm
Figure 2 – Maximum parsimony tree generated from by using the ITS sequences belongs to Xylariaceae species. The tree includes the ML, MP and BYPP values. In the phylogenetic tree the sequence analysis of Xylaria venosula NFCC-4520 (black bold letters) is shown with other species of Xylaria and Rosellinia australiensis as out-group