Freshwater Ascomycetes - Species Monograph

Click on the pictures below to view them at their full size.

Genus	Species	Author
Ayria	appendiculata	Fryar and K.D. Hyde
Class	Order	Family
Sordariomycetes	Inc. sed.	Inc. sed.

MycoBank ID: 369503

Synonymy:

Description

Habit:

Superficial to partly immersed on submerged, herbaceous debris.

Ascomata:

Ascomata 220–240 x 140–160 µm, superficial or partially immersed, scattered, globose to sub-globose, dark brown, membranous, with a hyaline neck.

Peridium:

Peridium 12–15 µm wide, tissue composed of textura angularis in surface view; in medial longitudinal section composed of a dark brown outer layer consisting of isodiametric cells occluded by brown amorphous material, and a hyaline inner layer made up of elongated, thin-walled cells 5–7 ´ 2–3 µm.

Beak:

Neck 40-–80 x 30–40 µm, cylindrical, periphysate, wall comprised of divergent hyphae.

Hamathecium:

Paraphyses 100–150 x 2–3 µm, cylindrical, hyaline, sparse, septate, attached at the base, tapering towards the apex.

Ascus:

Asci unitunicate, 120–185 x12–18 µm, cylindrical with a short stalk, rounded at the apex, lacking an apical pore or ring, deliquescing upon release into water, with eight overlapping uniseriate to biseriate ascospores.

Ascospore:

Ascospores 26–38 x 8–12 µm (mean = 30 x 10 µm, n = 25), hyaline, one-celled, becoming 3–4 septate at maturity, ellipsoidal, flattened on one side, sometimes slightly curved, finely multiguttulate, with bipolar gelatinous appendages that unfurl in water.

Sheath:

None reported.

Appendage:

Appendages bipolar, gelatinous, unfurling in water.

Culture:

Anamorph:

Other info

Type & Location:

Ayria appendiculata Fryar et K.D. Hyde: Brunei, Sungai Kelakas, Tutong River, Site 2, in submerged rotting wood, 1998, S.C. Fryar (HKU(M) 15553).

Other Specimens:

Specimens examined. USA. FLORIDA: Apalachicola National Forest, Camel Pond, 30° 16'36"N, 84°59'20"W, water temperature 33 C, pH 5, on submerged herbaceous debris, 10 July 2006, HAR and JLC, F116-1.

Substratum:

Herbaceous and woody debris.

Habitat:

Lentic, freshwater; brackish and seawater.

Distribution:

Brunei, USA (FL).

Pertinent Literature:

Fryar and K.D. Hyde, Cryptogamie Mycologie 25: 248. 2004; Raja 2007

Comments:

The fungus collected from Florida is morphologically similar in almost all respects to the protologue of A. appendiculata (Fryar and Hyde 2004). The specimen collected from Florida, however, has a hyaline, periphysate neck, a character not reported for the type species (Fryar and Hyde 2004). The asci of A. appendiculata were described as persistent; asci from the Florida material although present at first, start to deliquesce after a few minutes in water. The ascospores of A. appendiculata appear to be surrounded by gelatinous material, as the ascospores seem to be equally apart from each other; staining with India ink or nigrosin, however, does not seem to indicate the presence of a gelatinous sheath. The Florida specimen of A. appendiculata occurred on a piece of unidentified herbaceous debris in a freshwater lake, whereas the type specimen was reported from submerged wood in brackish and seawater from Brunei. This species is reported from North America and fresh water for the first time.

Additional Pictures

Ascospores.
Ascus.
Ascus apex.
Deliquescing ascus wall.

Back