Freshwater Ascomycetes - Species Monograph

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Genus	Species	Author
Wicklowia	aquatica	Raja, A. Ferrer & Shearer
Class	Order	Family
Dothideomycetes	Pleosporales	Inc. sed.

Genbank ID: 684674 MycoBank ID: 515226

Synonymy:

Description

Habit:

Immersed to erumpent of decorticated woody debris.

Ascomata:

Ascomata 140–145 × 265–270 µm, subglobose, flattened dorsiventrally, ostiolate, black, immersed to erumpent, solitary to gregarious, appearing as a black oval to circular, shallow, crater-like depression on the substrate.

Peridium:

Peridium ca. 25 µm wide, composed of 4–5 layers of small pseudoparenchymatic cells.

Beak:

Ostiolate, papilla or beak not pressent.

Hamathecium:

Pseudoparaphyses septate, sparse, 2 µm wide, in a gel matrix.

Ascus:

Asci 60–95 × 18–26 µm, fissitunicate, in a gel matrix, broadly clavate, rounded at the apex, apical chamber not observed, tapering to a curved stalk, with eight overlapping biseriate to triseriate ascospores.

Ascospore:

Ascospores 25–30 × 7–9 µm (mean = 25 × 8 µm, n = 25), thin-walled, cylindrical, rounded at the apices, slightly flattened on one side, hyaline, one-septate, slightly constricted at the septum, with two large lipid globules in each cell, surrounded by a gelatinous sheath that expands in water to ca. 2 µm wide on each side of the ascospore.

Sheath:

sheath expanding in water to ca. 2 µm wide on each side of the ascospore, attached at the base, with a gelatinous curtain extending downwards from the base that fragments into filamentous appendages. Sheath stains blue in aqueous

Appendage:

Appendages filamentous ca. 3–6 µm long, forming a sub-apical fringe; sheath and appendages staining blue in aqueous nigrosin.

Culture:

Colonies on PYG, slow-growing, floccose, dark grey, reverse black. Mycelium immersed in the agar, composed of septate brown hyphae. Colonies on corn meal agar (CMA, Difco, Detroit, Michigan, USA) slow growing, grey; reverse hyaline to grey; mycelium diffuse, immersed to aerial. Hyphae hyaline to light brown, thin-walled, 1–2 µm wide, septate. Ascomata formed in culture after about 3 months around the periphery of the growing colony on CMA, partly superficial to immersed in the agar. Colonies on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Difco) slow growing, grey in the center, black towards the periphery; dark black in reverse. Hyphae light brown. Forming ascomata in culture after 3–4 months on the center of the agar inoculum plug.

Anamorph:

None observed.

Other info

Type & Location:

United States. Florida: Apalachicola National Forest, Apalachicola River at Fort Gadsden Landing, 29˚56'00''N, 85˚0'00''W, water temp 9C, pH 6, on submerged decorticated woody debris, 14 January 2006, Huzefa A. Raja and J.L. Crane, F76-2 (holotype: ILL 40790 = H.A. Raja and J.L. Crane F76-2). Ex-holotype culture, H.A. Raja F76-2.

Other Specimens:

United States. Florida: Ocala National Forest, Alexander Springs, 29˚04'52''N, 81˚33'57''W, water temp 22C, pH 5, on submerged herbaceous material, 3 March 2005, Huzefa Raja and J.L. Crane, F76-1; Channel of Apalachicola River, 29˚45'01''N, 85˚00'34''W, water temp 28C, pH 6.5, on submerged corticated wood, 16 June 1997, Kevin Robertson, A419-1; COSTA RICA. Alajuela, Caño Negro Reserve, Rio Frio, 10˚53'00''N, 84˚45'00''W, water temp 27C, pH 5, 15 December 2005, A. Ferrer and M. Salazar, AF289-1; Caño Negro Reserve, Rio Frio, 10˚53'00''N, 84˚45'00''W, water temp 28C, pH 5, on submerged wood, 15 December 2005, A. Ferrer and M. Salazar, AF289-2; Heredia, La Selva stream, 10˚25'00''N, 84˚0'00''W, water temp 25C, pH 5, on submerged wood, 9 January 2006, M. Salazar, AF289-4; Limon, Las Palmas stream, 10˚35'00''N, 83˚31'00''W, water temp 25C, pH 5, on submerged wood, 18 December 2005, A. Ferrer and M. Salazar, AF289-6.

Substratum:

Submerged, decorticated woody debris.

Habitat:

Lotic.

Distribution:

Costa Rica, USA (Florida).

Pertinent Literature:

Raja, H. R., A. Ferrer, C. A. Shearer and A. N. Miller. 2010. Mycoscience 51:208–214.

Comments:

Additional Pictures

Basal ascospore appendages.
Ascus.
Discharging ascus.
Ascospore sheath.
Ascospore sheath.

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