identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
9AB48C61DC5E59A6A9338A799EB5E61C.text	9AB48C61DC5E59A6A9338A799EB5E61C.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Schizothecium keniense Y. Marin & K. Harms 2026	<div><p>Schizothecium keniense Y. Marín &amp; K. Harms sp. nov.</p><p>Fig. 2</p><p>Etymology.</p><p>Refers to the country from which the fungus was isolated.</p><p>Description.</p><p>Specimen growing on dung. Ascomata ostiolate, immersed, erumpent, scattered in the dung, pyriform, brown to dark brown, translucent, upper part ornate with groups of pale brown to brown swollen agglutinated hairs 149–169 × 42–63 µm (n = 3); ascomatal wall membranaceous, pale brown to brown, textura angularis to textura globulosa. Paraphyses and asci not observed due to the aged condition of the specimen. Ascospores two-celled; upper cell dark brown, fusiform to obovoid, smooth-walled, guttulate, with a terminal germ pore, 21–30 × 13–17 (– 35) µm (n = 31); lower cell hyaline, cylindrical, 22–32 µm × 2–3 µm (n = 10); gelatinous appendages observed in the upper cell. Asexual morph not observed.</p><p>Culture characters.</p><p>Colonies on OA attaining a diameter of 36–40 mm after 14 days at 25 ° C, cottony, lobulate, umbonate, margins regular to fringed, in the center black (202 A) to silver gray (202 C) and dark gray (202 B); reverse silver gray (202 C). Colonies on PCA attaining a diameter of 39–49 mm after 14 days at 25 ° C, cottony, slightly lobulate, umbonate, margins fimbriate to fringed, in the center dark brown (200 A) to gray-brown (199 A), to gray (201 D) margins; reverse brown (200 A) to grayed green (197 C). Colonies on PDA attaining a diameter of 24–37 mm after 14 days at 25 ° C, cottony, lobulate, flat, margins fimbriate to fringed, in the center gray (201 C to 201 D) to gray green in the margins (198 A); reverse grayed green (189 A). Colonies on Cz attaining a diameter of 35–64 mm after 14 days at 25 ° C, velvety, slightly lobulate, umbonate, margins fringed, in the center black (202 A) to gray brown (199 A) and lighter brown in the margins (199 D); reverse center brown (200 A) to gray brown (199 A to 199 D). Cardinal temperatures for growth: minimum 8 ° C, optimal 25 ° C, and maximum 28 ° C.</p><p>Specimen examined.</p><p>Kenya, campus-side Egerton University, isolated from cow dung, isol. by K. Harms, col. by A. Wennrich and J. P. Wennrich (herbarium PRM 964937, ex-type culture CCF 6931 = YMF 175) .</p><p>Notes.</p><p>Schizothecium keniense is introduced here to accommodate a fungus isolated from dung collected in Kenya. It is characterized by the distinctive agglutinated hairs in the upper part of the ascomata, a feature typical of Schizothecium . Although the fungus was isolated in pure culture, it did not sporulate; therefore, the description is based on the specimen observed on dung. As the material was already in a senescent state, asci and paraphyses could not be observed. Furthermore, the lower cell of the ascospores was frequently absent or collapsed in most observed spores.</p><p>The phylogenetically closest species to S. keniense is S. conicum . Morphologically, the two species are also highly similar, both possessing comparable ascospores and groups of agglutinated, swollen hairs on the upper part of the ascomata. Schizothecium conicum is one of the most common coprophilous species found on dung (Lundqvist 1972). The two species can be distinguished by the length of the agglutinated hairs and the lower ascospore cell, measuring up to 160 µm and 31.5 µm in S. keniense, respectively, vs. up to 120 µm and 14 µm in S. conicum (Lundqvist 1972; Mungai et al. 2012). Schizothecium vesticola is also phylogenetically related, but this can be easily distinguished in both mentioned species by the production of swollen hairs often non-agglutinated and not forming triangular scales at the neck base (Doveri 2008).</p><p>Other species included in the phylogenetic study and isolated from dung in Kenya were S. curvuloides, S. dakotense, and S. glutinans . However, these species were phylogenetically distant from the newly described taxon. Schizothecium curvuloides and S. dakotense differ in possessing much shorter agglutinated hairs, reaching up to 32 µm and 30 µm, respectively (Mungai et al. 2012). In addition, S. curvuloides produces ascospores with longer upper cells (31–45 µm) than the other species (Cai et al. 2005; Mungai et al. 2012), whereas S. dakotense has the shortest upper cells (18–24 µm) (Cai et al. 2005). Schizothecium glutinans is readily distinguished by producing two types of perithecial hairs: short, swollen agglutinated hairs and long, flexuous, non-agglutinated hairs (Mirza and Cain 1969). Moreover, it produces ascospores with longer upper cells (26.5–33 µm) than S. keniense (Cai et al. 2005; Mungai et al. 2012). Schizothecium dubium was also isolated from Kenyan dung samples, although no molecular data are available for comparison. This species is easily distinguished by producing swollen agglutinated cells rather than groups of agglutinated hairs (Mungai et al. 2012).</p><p>The genus Schizothecium comprises predominantly coprophilous species. Within the African records of the genus, S. vesticola has been reported from Algeria and Morocco (Lundqvist 1972). This species differs from S. keniense by producing short, swollen hairs that are often non-agglutinated and do not form triangular scales at the base of the neck, but instead occur as scattered, articulated elements (25–35 × 5–10 µm) or are reduced to single protruding cells (Doveri 2008). Moreover, the upper ascospore cell is shorter in S. vesticola, measuring 17–21.5 µm (Mirza and Cain 1969; Doveri 2008).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/9AB48C61DC5E59A6A9338A799EB5E61C	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Agudelo-Restrepo, Manuela;Dibouloul, Patrick;Harms, Karen;Tchamgoue, Joseph;Stadler, Marc;Matasyoh, Josphat;Kouam, Simeon Fogue;Marin-Felix, Yasmina	Agudelo-Restrepo, Manuela, Dibouloul, Patrick, Harms, Karen, Tchamgoue, Joseph, Stadler, Marc, Matasyoh, Josphat, Kouam, Simeon Fogue, Marin-Felix, Yasmina (2026): Pyrrospirone Z and related decahydrofluorene alkaloids produced by the new coprophilous species Schizothecium keniense (Schizotheciaceae, Sordariales). MycoKeys 136: 139-159, DOI: 10.3897/mycokeys.136.191424
