Barssia luyashanensis L. Fan & Y.Y. Xu, 2018

Xu, Yu-Yan, Guo, Li-Jie, Li, Ting & Fan, Li, 2018, Two new species of Barssia from China, Phytotaxa 374 (2), pp. 129-138 : 134

Barssia luyashanensis L. Fan & Y.Y. Xu , sp. nov. Fig. 3 .

Fungal Names : FN570589

Etymology: luyashanensis, Luyashan Mountain , referring to the locality where the type specimen was collected.

Holotype: China. Shanxi Province, Ningwu County, Qiuqiangou Village, Luyashan Mountain , alt. 2099 m, 25 August 2017, in soil under Picea sp. , M. Chen CM023 ( BJTC FAN764 ).

Ascomata subglobose to irregularly subglobose, usually with some superficial or deep furrows, 9–10 × 7–8 mm in fresh, reddish brown when fresh, with an obvious apical depression of pale color, surface covered with red brown to dark brown fine warts of 160–240 μm wide and 80–130 μm high, odor and taste not recorded. Gleba solid, white to yellowish white, with several large white veins radiating from the depression. Peridium 260–500 μm thick, two-layered, outer layer 120–230 μm thick, pseudoparenchymatous, composed of polygonal cells with 4-6 sides, cells 15–35 × 12–25 μm, walls 1.0–2.5 μm thick, the outermost cells reddish-brown, and gradually light-yellow to hyaline towards inner side; inner layer hyaline, 150–250 μm thick, composed of interwoven hyphae, that more or less parallel to the surface of peridium, hyphae hyaline, 2.5–6.0 μm wide. Paraphyses not well-defined, hyaline, cylindrical, straight or sometimes slightly curved, septate, longer than asci, 2.5–5.5 μm wide. Asci irregularly clavate or broadly ellipsoid, with a protruding hump at the apex and a pleurorhynchous base, with a slender-stalk, 35–50 μm long, 6.5–8.5μm wide, inamyloid, 8-spored, 120–192 × 32–50 μm (including stalk), spores irregularly arranged in ascus. Ascospores ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, inamyloid, 24.5–30.8 × 15.5–21.5 μm (av. 27.5 × 18.5 μm), Q (L/I) = 1.40–1.67 (Qm = 1.54) (n = 30), usually containing one large oil drop and several small droplets.

Other materials examined: China. Shanxi Province, Ningwu County, Qiuqiangou Village, Luyashan Mountain , alt. 2026m, 12 October 2017, in soil under Picea sp. , X. Y. Yan YXY103 ( BJTC FAN1030 ) ; ibid., 6 August 1987, in soil under Picea wilsonii Mast., K. Tao MHSU1730 ( HMAS 96698 ) .

Note: Barssia luyashanensis was characterized by its reddish brown ascomata covered with fine warts, and solid gleba without chambers. Barssia gunerii , B. hellenica and B. maroccana were similar in appearance of ascomata, but B. gunerii is separated by its subglobose to ovoid ascospores and gleba with irregularly sinuous, labyrinth-like veins ( Doğan et al. 2018), B. hellenica by its ovoid ascospores ( Kaounas et al. 2015), and B. maroccana by its pale pinkish gleba frequently presenting small labyrinth-like cavities and well-defined sinuous veins, and large ascospores (29–36 × 16–22 μm, Crous et al. 2014). Another new species B. guozigouensis in this paper was also similar to, but it was distinguished from B. luyashanensis by its distinctly warty ascomata and gleba with small chambers. Also, DNA analysis showed that B. guozigouensis shared less than 94.9% similarity in ITS sequence with B. luyashanensis . The phylogenetic tree based on ITS and nrLSU sequences indicated that B. guozigouensis and B. luyashanensis each formed a terminal branch ( Figs 1 , 2 ) with strong statistic support.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogenetic tree generated from a maximum likelihood analysis based on nrLSU sequences, showing the phylogenetic relationships of the new species. Tuber anniae and T. bellisporum are the outgroups. Likelihood bootstrap support values (≥ 70%) and Bayesian posterior probabilities values (≥ 0.95) are indicated above the nodes as BS/PP. Novel sequences are printed in bold.

FIGURE 2. Phylogenetic tree generated from a maximum likelihood analysis based on ITS+nrLSU combined sequences, showing the phylogenetic relationships of the new species. Tuber anniae and T. bellisporum are the outgroups. Likelihood bootstrap support values (≥ 70%) and Bayesian posterior probabilities values (≥ 0.95) are indicated above the nodes as BS/PP. Novel sequences are printed in bold.

FIGURE 3. Barssia luyashanensis (BJTC FAN764, holotype) a,b.Ascomata; c,d Peridium; e. stalk of ascus; f. mature ascus; g. immature ascus; h. light micrograph of ascospores. Scale bars: a = 5 mm; b = 5 mm; c = 100 μm; d = 100 μm; e = 15 μm; f = 25 μm; g = 25 μm; h = 25 μm.