Neopestalotiopsis haikouensis Z. X. Zhang, J. W. Xia & X. G. Zhang, 2022

Zhang, Zhaoxue, Liu, Rongyu, Liu, Shubin, Mu, Taichang, Zhang, Xiuguo & Xia, Jiwen, 2022, Morphological and phylogenetic analyses reveal two new species of Sporocadaceae from Hainan, China, MycoKeys 88, pp. 171-192 : 171

Neopestalotiopsis haikouensis Z. X. Zhang, J. W. Xia & X. G. Zhang sp. nov.

Fig. 3

Type.

China, Hainan Province, Haikou City: East Harbour National Nature Reserve , on diseased leaves of Ilex chinensis . 23 May 2021, Z.X. Zhang (holotype HSAUP212271; ex-type living culture SAUCC212271) .

Etymology.

Named after the host location, Haikou City.

Description.

Leaf spots irregular, grey white in centre, brown to tan at margin. Sexual morph not observed. Asexual morph on PDA: Conidiomata globose to clavate, solitary or confluent, embedded or semi-immersed to erumpent, dark brown, exuding globose, dark brown to black conidial masses. Conidiophores indistinct, often reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells discrete, subcylindrical to ampulliform, hyaline, 5.0-10.0 × 2.0-6.0 μm, apex 1.0-2.0 μm diam. Conidia fusoid, ellipsoid, straight to slightly curved, 4-septate, 16.0-22.0 × 4.5-7.0 μm, mean ± SD = 20.0 ± 1.8 × 5.5 ± 0.4 μm; basal cell conical with a truncate base, hyaline, rugose and thin-walled, 3.0-4.5 μm long; three median cells doliiform, 11.5-15.0 μm long, mean ± SD = 13.2 ± 1.0 μm, wall rugose, septa darker than the rest of the cell, second cell from the base pale brown, 3.5-5.5 μm long; third cell honey-brown, 4.0-6.0 μm long; fourth cell brown, 3.8-5.7 μm long; apical cell 2.5-5.5 μm long, hyaline, cylindrical to subcylindrical, thin- and smooth-walled; with 2-3 tubular apical appendages (mostly 3), arising from the apical crest, unbranched, filiform, 13.5-24.0 μm long, mean ± SD = 19.1 ± 3.5 μm; basal appendage 2.0-7.0 μm long, single, tubular, unbranched, centric.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies on PDA occupying an entire 90 mm petri dish in 7 days at 25 °C in darkness, growth rate of 7.0-14.0 mm/day, edge undulate, white to grey white, with moderate aerial mycelium on the surface, with black, gregarious conidiomata; reverse similar in colour.

Additional specimen examined.

China, Hainan Province: East Harbour National Nature Reserve, 23 May 2021, Z.X. Zhang. On diseased leaves of Ilex chinensis , paratype HSAUP212272, living culture SAUCC212272.

Notes.

Phylogenetic analysis of a combined three-gene ITS- tub2 - tef1 showed that Neopestalotiopsis haikouensis formed an independent clade with full-supported (BI/ML = 1/100, Fig. 1 ) and is phylogenetically distinct from N. cocoes (MFLUCC 15-0152), N. formicidarum (CBS 362.72) and N. sichuanensis (CFCC 54338). Neopestalotiopsis haikouensis can be distinguished from the phylogenetically most closely related species N. cocoes by narrower conidia (4.5-7.0 vs. 7.5-9.5 μm), N. formicidarum by smaller conidia (16.0-22.0 × 4.5-7.0 vs. 20.0-29.0 × 7.5-9.5 μm), and N. sichuanensis by shorter conidia (16.0-22.0 vs. 23.2-32.8 μm). Furthermore, some species were reported from the same host genus Ilex , including Pestalotia neglecta , Pestalotiopsis annulata , P. humicola and P. ilicis . After comparison, P. humicola was closest to N. haikouensis in morphology, but with 78/588 differences in the ITS region ( Maharachch. et al. 2014; Liu et al. 2019; Jiang et al. 2021b).

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogram of Sporocadaceae based on combined ITS, tub 2 and tef 1 sequences. The BI and ML bootstrap support values above 0.90 and 70 % are shown at the first and second position, respectively. The tree is rooted to Bartalinia robillardoides (CBS 122705), ex-type or ex-epitype cultures are indicated in bold face. Strains from the current study are in red. Some branches were shortened according to the indicated mulipliers.

Figure 3. Neopestalotiopsis haikouensis (SAUCC 212271, ex-type) a diseased leaf of Ilex chinensis b surface of colony after 7 days on PDA c reverse of colony after 7 days on PDA d conidiomata e-g conidiogenous cells with conidia h-j conidia. Scale bars: 10 μm (e-j).