Molecular data reveals a new holomorphic marine fungus, Halobyssothecium estuariae, and the asexual morph of Keissleriella phragmiticola

Bandarupalli Devadatha; Mark S Calabon; Pranami D Abeywickrama; Kevin D Hyde; E B Gareth Jones

doi:10.1080/21501203.2019.1700025

Molecular data reveals a new holomorphic marine fungus, Halobyssothecium estuariae, and the asexual morph of Keissleriella phragmiticola

Mycology. 2019 Dec 9;11(3):167-183. doi: 10.1080/21501203.2019.1700025.

Authors

Bandarupalli Devadatha¹, Mark S Calabon¹, Pranami D Abeywickrama^{1

2}, Kevin D Hyde¹, E B Gareth Jones^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
² Institute of Plant and Environment Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Nantgaredig, Southsea, UK.

Abstract

This study introduces a novel holomorphic marine fungal species, Halobyssothecium estuariae (Lentitheciaceae, Pleosporales), from dead Phragmites communis. The new species has semi-immersed, subglobose or ellipsoidal, papillate, conical ascomata, clavate to subcylindrical, short pedicellate asci and 3-septate, fusoid to ellipsoidal ascospores with rounded ends, pale brown to dark brown central cells and hyaline end cells. The asexual morph has multiseptate, filiform, intercalary, catenate, branched chlamydospores that resemble Xylomyces. The asexual morph of Keissleriella phragmiticola based on combined LSU, SSU, ITS and TEF1 sequence analyses is reported. The role of molecular identification in delineating cryptic species are also discussed.

Keywords: 1 new taxon; cryptic species; marine fungi; salt marsh plants; taxonomy.