Pattersoniomyces Piątek, M. Lutz & C.A. Rosa, 2017

Piątek, Marcin, Lutz, Matthias, Sousa, Francisca M. P., Santos, Ana R. O., Félix, Ciro R., Landell, Melissa F., Gomes, Fátima C. O. & Rosa, Carlos A., 2017, Pattersoniomyces tillandsiae gen. et comb. nov.: linking sexual and asexual morphs of the only known smut fungus associated with Bromeliaceae, Organisms Diversity & Evolution 17 (3), pp. 531-543 : 534

Pattersoniomyces Piątek, M. Lutz & C.A. Rosa , gen. nov.

MycoBank no. MB821983

Etymology: The genus is named in honor of Flora Wambaugh Patterson (1847 – 1928), an American mycologist and the first woman mycologist working at the US Department of Agriculture ( Rossman 2002). Among others, she described Ustilago tillandsiae , which is the type species of the new genus.

Description: Teleomorph parasitic on living plants. Sori in the flowers of Tillandsia spp. ( Bromeliaceae ), producing naked, dusty spore masses around the rudimentary developed innermost floral organs, peridium lacking, sori protected only by perianths and bracts. Spore balls absent. Spores pigmented (brown), collapsed or hemispherically cupped, ornamented with fine ridges. Anamorph free-living, pseudozyma-like, producing pseudomycelium and true mycelium, cells budding on short denticles, assimilating myo-inositol, showing positive diazonium blue B reaction, negative starch-like production. Anamorph linked with the teleomorph by DNA sequence analyses. Type: Pattersoniomyces tillandsiae (F. Patt.) Piątek, M. Lutz, M.F. Landell & C.A. Rosa.