Italica heraclei Wijes., Yong Wang bis, Camporesi & K.D. Hyde, 2021

Wijesinghe, Subodini N., Wang, Yong, Zucconi, Laura, Dayarathne, Monika C., Boonmee, Saranyaphat, Camporesi, Erio, Wanasinghe, Dhanushka N. & Hyde, Kevin D., 2021, Additions to Italian Pleosporinae, including Italica heraclei sp. nov., Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 59648-59648 : 59648

Italica heraclei Wijes., Yong Wang bis, Camporesi & K.D. Hyde sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Erio Camporesi; Taxon: scientificName: Italica heraclei Wijes., Yong Wang bis, Camporesi & K.D. Hyde, sp. nov.; kingdom: Fungi; phylum: Ascomycota; class: Dothideomycetes; order: Pleosporales; family: Phaeosphaeriaceae; genus: Italica; specificEpithet: heraclei; taxonRank: species; Location: stateProvince: Province of Forlì-Cesena [FC]; county: Italy; municipality: near Ranchio; Identification: identifiedBy: S.N. Wijesinghe; Event: year: 2018; month: 09; day: 10; habitat: on a dead aboveground stem of Heracleum sphondylium (Apiales, Apiaceae); fieldNotes: Terrestrial; Record Level: institutionID: MFLU 18-1906; institutionCode: Mae Fah Luang University Herbarium (MFLU); ownerInstitutionCode: IT 4028 Type status: Other material. Record Level: type: ex-type living culture; collectionID: MFLUCC 20-0227; collectionCode: Mae Fah Luang Culture Collection (MFLUCC)

Description

Saprobic on dead aboveground stem of Heracleum sphondylium L. ( Apiales , Apiaceae ). Sexual morph: Ascomata (Fig. 3 a-c) 250-280 × 230-250 µm (x¯ = 257 × 237 µm, n = 10), immersed to erumpent, solitary scattered, sessile, globose to subglobose, uniloculate, dark brown to black, coriaceous, ostiolate. Ostiole (Fig. 3 c) papillate, 70-85 µm long, 80-100 µm wide, central, comprising blackish-brown to pale brown or hyaline cells. Peridium (Fig. 3 d) 10-25 µm (x¯ = 16 µm, n = 15) wide, thin-walled, composed of 4-6 cell layers, outermost layers heavily pigmented, comprising dark brown to pale brown cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising numerous, 2-3 µm wide (x¯ = 2.5 µm, n = 10), filamentous, branched pseudoparaphyses (Fig. 3 e) with distinct septa. Asci (Fig. 3 f-k) 80-120 × 8-9 µm (x¯ = 100 × 8.5 µm, n = 10), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical, apically rounded with thick-walled, minute ocular chamber, short pedicellate. Ascospores (Fig. 3 l-n) 13-22 × 4-5.5 µm (x¯ = 18 × 5 µm, n = 30), overlapping, uniseriate, ellipsoidal to subcylindrical, 4-6 transversely septate, vertically aseptate, with rounded ends, widest at the middle cell when matured, constricted at the septa, initially hyaline, becoming yellowish-brown at maturity, smooth-walled, mucilaginous sheath absent. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Ascospores germinating on MEA (malt extract agar) within 2 days, from single-spore isolation. Colonies (Fig. 3 o-p) on PDA reaching 5-10 mm diam. after 28 days at 18°C, circular, entire edge, flat, dense, bright yellow in both upper and lower sides.

GenBank accession numbers (ex-MFLU 18-1906T): SSU = MT881671, ITS = MT881676, LSU = MT881653, TEF = MT901290

Etymology

Etymology: Italica heraclei , referring to the host genus Heracleum from which the strains were isolated.

Notes

Notes: Italica heraclei (holotype MFLU 18-1906) was isolated from a dead aerial stem of Heracleum sphondylium ( Apiales , Apiaceae ), whereas I. achilleae (MFLUCC 14-0955) and I. luzulae (MFLUCC 14-0932) were previously isolated from Achillea millefolium ( Asterales , Asteraceae ) and Luzula sp. ( Poales , Juncaceae ), respectively. The strains of Italica heraclei (MFLUCC 20-0227) and I. achilleae (MFLUCC 14-0955) were collected from the same Province, Forlì-Cesena; Italica Italica luzulae (MFLUCC 14-0932) was collected from Trento Province ( Ariyawansa et al. 2015b, Wanasinghe et al. 2018b).

Italica heraclei (MFLUCC 20-0227) shows morphological characters that are typical for the genus, including coriaceous ascomata; filamentous, branched and septate pseudoparaphyses; and hyaline to yellowish-brown ascospores. Italica heraclei differs from other Italica species by its cylindrical asci and vertically aseptate (Fig. 3 ) and uniseriate-arranged ascospores in asci.

From the comparison of the SSU, ITS, LSU and TEF sequences of I. heraclei (MFLUCC 20-0227) and I. luzulae (MFLUCC 14-0932, type species) strains, we detected 3/949 (0.31%), 67/517 (12.95%), 20/796 (2.51%) and 32/619 (5.16%) differences, respectively. From the comparison of SSU, ITS, LSU and TEF nucleotides of I. heraclei and I. achilleae (MFLUCC 14-0955), we found 1/950 (0.1%), 64/517 (12.37%), 7/796 (1.13%) and 28/619 (4.52%) differences, respectively. According to the results of our integrative taxonomy approach, we described I. heraclei (MFLUCC 20-0227) as a new species.

Figures

Figure 3. Italica heraclei (MFLU 18 - 1906). a-b. Ascomata on a dead stem of Heracleum sphondylium (Apiales, Apiaceae). c. Section of an ascoma. d. Peridium. e. Pseudoparaphyses. f-j. Asci. k-n. Ascospores. o-p. Colonies on PDA from upper (o) and lower (p) sides. Scale bars: a-b = 200 µm, c = 100 µm, d-j = 20 µm, k-n = 10 µm.