Nemania caries (Schwein.) Y.M. Ju & J.D. Rogers, Nova Hedwigia 74(1-2): 90 (2002)

Pi, Yin Hui, Long, Si Han, Wu, You Peng, Liu, Li Li, Lin, Yan, Long, Qing De, Kang, Ji Chuan, Kang, Ying Qian, Chang, Chu Rui, Shen, Xiang Chun, Wijayawardene, Nalin N., Zhang, Xu & Li, Qi Rui, 2021, A taxonomic study of Nemania from China, with six new species, MycoKeys 83, pp. 39-67 : 39

Nemania caries (Schwein.) Y.M. Ju & J.D. Rogers, Nova Hedwigia 74(1-2): 90 (2002)

Fig. 3

Nemania caries Synonyms. Sphaeria caries Schwein., Trans. Am. phil. Soc., New Series 4(2): 194 (1832).

Hypoxylon caries (Schwein.) Sacc., Syll. fung. (Abellini) 1: 393 (1882).

Hypoxylon balansae Speg., Anal. Soc. cient. argent. 26(1): 30 (1888).

Description.

Saprobic on the surface of decaying wood. Sexual morph: Stromata irregularly effused-pulvinate, 5.5-18 mm long × 3-9 mm wide × 0.4-0.6 mm thick, with conspicuous perithecial mounds, surface blackish-grey, carbonaceous, interior white, loosely fibrous to cottony; mature stromata lacking KOH extractable pigments. Perithecia 0.25-0.5 mm wide × 0.4-0.6 mm high, obovoid. Ostioles slightly higher than stromatal surface and with openings conic-papillate, black, inconspicuous, without encircling disc. Asci 130-200 × 7-13 μm (av. = 150 × 9.5 μm, n = 30), 8-spored, cylindrical, unitunicate, long-stipitate, the spore-bearing parts 65-95 µm long, apically rounded with a J+, short-cylindrical apical apparatus, 1.5-2.5 × 1-2.5 µm (av. = 2 × 1.5 µm, n = 30). Ascospores 9-13.5 × 3-7 μm (av. = 11.5 × 5 μm, n = 30), brown to light brown, smooth, with an inconspicuous, straight, germ slit 1/3 spore-length, nearly equilateral, with broadly rounded ends; perispore indehiscent in 10% KOH. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies grow on PDA at 25 °C for two weeks, with a diameter of 4 cm. Colony on the surface is white or light orange, shallow, flat, zonnate, with irregular edges and orange on the reverse side. The colony reverse is orange. Not sporulating on OA nor on PDA.

Material examined.

China, Yunnan Province, Changning County, Lancang River Nature Reserve (25°01'13.56"N, 99°35'25.12"E, altitude: 2626 m), on dead wood, 6 October 2019, Y.H. Pi, 2019LC369 (GMB0070, KUN-HKAS 112680), living culture, GMBC0070; CHINA, Yunnan Province, Changning County, Lancang River Nature Reserve (25°01'13.33"N, 99°35'26.55"E, altitude: 2641 m), on dead wood, 6 October 2019, Y.H. Pi, 2019LC401 (GMB0069, KUN-HKAS 112682), living culture, GMBC0069 .

Known distribution.

Hawaii ( Rogers and Ju 2012), Martinique ( Fournier et al. 2018), Paraguay, USA ( Ju and Rogers 2002), Yunnan Province, China (this paper).

Notes.

The phylogenetic analyses show Nemania caries groups with N. changningensis with high statistical support (100% ML, 1 BYPP, Fig. 1 ) and the comparison calculation within the alignment found that there is a 4% difference in ITS sequences between N. changningensis and N. caries . Morphologically, N. caries resembles N. colubrina J. Fourn. & Lechat which has medium brown ascospores and a similar size of ascospores. However, N. colubrina differs from N. caries by ellipsoid-inequilateral ascospores with narrowly-rounded ends ( Ju and Rogers 2002; Fournier et al. 2018). Nemania caries is distinguished from N. plumbea by its dimension of ascospores, the latter has larger ascospores (13-16 × 5.4-6.6 µm) with narrowly-rounded ends ( Tang et al. 2007). The specimens we collected from the Lancang River Nature Reserve in Yunnan fit the definition of N. caries well and represent the first record from China.

Figures

Figure 1. RAxML tree based on analysis of a combined dataset of ITS, α-actin, rpb 2 and β-tubulin sequences from taxa of Nemania and related genera. Bayesian posterior probability (PP) ≥ 0.90 is marked at the node and the maximum likelihood bootstrap support (BS) values greater than ≥ 75 %; a dash (" - ") indicates a value <0.90 (PP) or <75 % (BS). The strain number is indicated after the species name. The here-studied strains are in bold and new species are indicated in red.

Figure 3. Nemania caries (GMB 0070) A type material B, C stromata on the surface of host D transverse sections of stromata E longitudinal section of stroma F-H asci with ascospores I pigments in 10 % KOH J ascospore with indehiscent perispore in 10 % KOH K ascus apical apparatus (stained in Melzer's Reagent) L, M ascospores N, O Colonies on PDA (N - upper, O - lower). Scale bars: 0.5 mm (C-E); 10 μm (F-H, J-M).