Freshwater Ascomycetes - Species Monograph

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Genus	Species	Author
Falciformispora	lignatilis	K.D. Hyde
Class	Order	Family
Dothideomycetes	Pleosporales	Inc. sed.

Genbank ID: 703486 MycoBank ID: 358910

Synonymy:

Description

Habit:

Asomata on wood superficial, with or without a subiculum.

Ascomata:

Ascomata on wood 300–320 x 250–300 µm, superficial, subiculate or not, broadly subglobose to ovoid, black, coriaceous, ostiolate, papillate.

Peridium:

Peridium 30–36 µm wide, of textura angularis to prismatica in surface view; in medial longitudinal section composed of two layers: an outer dark amorphous layer, and an inner layer of hyaline angular cells; cells 7–9 ´ 3–5 µm.

Beak:

Papillae short, 20–40 x 42–80 µm, periphyses not seen.

Hamathecium:

Pseudoparaphyses ca. 2- µm wide, abundant, hyaline, septate, septa refractile, in gel matrix.

Ascus:

Asci 148–208 x 30–40 µm (mean = 165 x 33 µm, n = 15), in gel matrix, narrowly clavate, rounded at the apex, with a short pedicel, with or without an apical chamber, bitunicate, fissitunicate, ectoascus splitting at the ascus apex.

Ascospore:

Ascospores 52–74 x 10–14 µm, (mean = 64 x 13, n = 30), fusiform, hyaline, 6–8 septate, basal cell slightly curved, finely multiguttulate, surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath and a basal scythe-shaped appendage.

Sheath:

Sheath extending ca. 14 µm beyond the ascospore apex, 2–3 µm wide at the sides, forming a single scythe shaped appendage at the base of the ascospore.

Appendage:

Appendage 35–40 µm long and 3–4 µm wide, staining blue in aqueous nigrosin; ascospores becoming dark brown with age.

Culture:

Anamorph:

None observed.

Other info

Type & Location:

Holotypus in ligno immersus, mangrove prope Boca de Pascuales. Nova Hispania. March 1988. Hyde. BRIP 16972

Other Specimens:

USA. FLORIDA: Everglades National Park, Royal Palm Pond, 25°22'58"N, 80°36'36"W, water temperature 20 C, pH 7, on submerged, decorticated woody debris, 16 February 2006, HAR and JLC, F88-1; Ocala National Forest, Red Water Lake, 29°11.82'N, 81°53.47'W, water temperature 18 C, pH 5, on submerged, decorticated woody debris, 19 February 2006, HAR and JLC, F88-2.

Substratum:

Mangrove wood, decorticated woody debris

Habitat:

Mangrove (brackish water), lentic (freshwater)

Distribution:

Mexico, USA (FL)

Pertinent Literature:

Hyde 1992., Raja 2007

Comments:

Hyde (1992) described and illustrated F. lignatilis as a new genus and species from intertidal mangrove wood in Mexico. The specimens collected from central and south Florida represent the first reports of F. lignatilis from a freshwater habitat and from North America. The specimens agree well in size and morphology with the type description of F. lignatilis with a few exceptions. The ascomata of F. lignatilis were described as ”epapillate“ in the type description (Hyde 1992), but a wide papilla was observed in the medial longitudinal section of the Florida specimen. In addition, the pseudoparaphyses and asci in our collections are surrounded by a gel matrix, a characteristic not reported in the original description. Hyde (1992) compared F. lignatilis to Setosphaeria Leonard & Suggs (Leonard and Suggs 1974), but we believe that F. lignatilis is more closely related to the genus Chaetomastia (Sacc.) Berlese, which was reinstated by Barr (1989) for fungi having immersed to erumpent ovoid, obpyriform to globose ascomata with a wide papilla; peridium relatively wide, comprised of pseudoparenchymatic cells; bitunicate, clavate to cylindrical asci, with pseudoparaphyses embedded in a gel matrix; and multiseptate obovoid, elongate, yellowish brown to dark brown ascospores surrounded by gel coating. Falciformispora, however, differs from Chaetomastia in having hyaline ascospores.

Additional Pictures

Basal appendage stained in aqueous nigrosin.
Unstained basal appendage.
Basal appendage stained in aqueous nigrosin.
Asci.
Asci.
Ascospore.
Ascospore.
Ascospore.
Ascospore.
Ascus apex.
Dehiscing asci.
Dehiscing asci.
Immature ascus.
Peridium.
Asci.
Ascus apex.

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