Ramusculicola thailandica Thambug. & K.D. Hyde

Rathnayaka, Achala R., Chethana, K. W. Thilini, Tennakoon, Danushka S., Lumyong, Saisamorn & Hyde, Kevin D., 2021, Additions to the microfungi in Taiwan: introducing Pseudorobillarda camelliaesinensis sp. nov., (Pseudorobillardaceae) and new host records of pleosporalean taxa in mountainous habitats, Phytotaxa 516 (2), pp. 115-139 : 130

Ramusculicola thailandica Thambug. & K.D. Hyde , Fungal Diversity : 53 (2015)

Index Fungorum number: IF815670; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01092; FIGURE 8

Saprobic on dead branch of Ficus sp. and Spathodea campanulate P. Beauv. Sexual morph: Ascomata 185–235 μm high, 164–250 μm diam. (x̄ = 210 × 215 μm; n = 20)., solitary or scattered, semi-immersed, erumpent, subglobose to globose, coriaceous, black, uni-loculate, ostiolate. Ostiole central, rounded, compressed, with periphyses. Peridium 25–35 μm wide, composed of 2–6 layers, outer layer thick, consists of brown cells of textura angularis, inner layer thin, consists of hyaline cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising 1–3 μm wide, numerous, filamentous, aseptate, unbranched, cellular pseudoparaphyses, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 50–84 × 9–12 μm (x̄ = 69 × 11 μm; n = 40), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical, with a short truncate pedicel, rounded at the apex, with an ocular chamber. Ascospores 24–34 × 4–7 μm (x̄ = 28 × 5 μm; n = 60), overlapping bi-seriate, fusiform, 1-septate, constricted at the septum, hyaline, guttulate. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Ascospores germinating on PDA within 24 hours by producing germ tubes from both ends of the ascospore. Colonies on PDA reaching 2 cm diam. after 2 weeks at 25°C, flat, circular, dull red and white, white colour at the margin, reverse dull red, slightly undulate margin.

Material examined: Taiwan, Fenghuang Mountain, on dead branch of Ficus sp. (Moraceae) . 17 September 2019, Achala Rathnayaka (MFLU 21-0011, new host record); living culture NCYUCC 19-0417; Taiwan, Alishan Mountain, on dead branch of Spathodea campanulate (Bignoniaceae) . 16 August 2019, Achala Rathnayaka (MFLU 21-0010, new host record); living culture NCYUCC 19-0390.

Known Distribution: Thailand ( Phukhamsakda et al. 2020, Thambugala et al. 2015), Taiwan (this study)

GenBank accession numbers: MFLU 21-0011- LSU: MW478595 , ITS: MW478600 , tef 1-α: MW478495 ; MFLU 21-0010- SSU: MW478591 , ITS: MW478599

Note: Our collections (NCYUCC 19-0417 and NCYUCC 19-0390) clustered with Ramusculicola thailandica isolates (MFLUCC 13-0284, MFLUCC 10-0126 and MFLUCC 17-0909) with 100% ML and 1.00 PP bootstrap support ( FIGURE 4 ). Morphologically, our collections show similar characteristics to the holotype, such as globose to subglobose, erumpent, black, coriaceous, uni-loculate ascomata, central, rounded, periphysate ostiole and hyaline, 1-septate, fusiform ascospores ( Thambugala et al. 2015). Ramusculicola thailandica has been recorded from different hosts in Thailand, such as Acacia sp. , Clematis sikkimensis and Leucaena leucocephala (Farr & Rossman 2021) . This is the first records of Ramusculicola thailandica on Ficus sp. , Spathodea campanulata and, from Taiwan as well.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Phylogenetic tree generated from ML analysis based on combined dataset of LSU, SSU, ITS and tef1-α. Related sequences were obtained from GenBank and Jaklitsch et al. (2016). The tree is rooted to Decaisnella formosa (BCC 25617). Bootstrap support values for ML ≥ 70 % and Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP) ≥ 0.95 are noted at the nodes. Strain numbers are noted at the end of the species name. New isolates used in this study represented as blue bold and type strains are in bold.

FIGURE 8. Ramusculicola thailandica a Appearance of ascomata on host substrate. b Close-up of ascoma. c, d Sections through an ascoma. e Section through peridium. f Pseudoparaphyses. g–j Asci. k–o Ascospores. p Germinating ascospore. q Colony from above. r Colony from below. Scale bars: a =500 μm, b = 200 μm, c, d = 100 μm, e, k–o = 5 μm, f, p = 10 μm, g–j = 20 μm