Kirschsteiniothelia saprophytica O. Karimi, V. Silva & Gomes de Farias, 2024

de Farias, Antonio Roberto Gomes, Afshari, Naghmeh, Silva, Veenavee S. Hittanadurage, Louangphan, Johnny, Karimi, Omid & Boonmee, Saranyaphat, 2024, Three novel species and new records of Kirschsteiniothelia (Kirschsteiniotheliales) from northern Thailand, MycoKeys 101, pp. 347-370 : 347

Kirschsteiniothelia saprophytica O. Karimi, V. Silva & Gomes de Farias sp. nov.

Figs 4 , 5

Etymology.

The species epithet refers to the saprobic life mode of the fungus.

Holotype.

MFLU 23-0419

Description.

Saprobic on dead wood of undetermined host. Sexual morph: Ascomata 146.7-72.26 µm diam., superficial, solitary, globose to subglobose, dark brown to black. Pseudoparaphyses 1.2-2.7 µm wide (x̄ = 1.9, n = 20), hyaline, branched, filiform, abounded. Asci 68-125 × 18-23 µm (x̄ = 101 × 20 µm, n = 10), bitunicate, 8-spored, cylindrical-claviform, sessile or short pedicellate. Ascospores 13-25 (-40) × 7-11 (-14) µm (x̄ = 24 × 9.8 µm, n = 25), ellipsoid, upper cell broader than lower cell, pale brown to dark brown, 1-septate, guttulate, smooth-walled. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies on host gregarious. Conidiophores 90-216 × 8-12 µm (x̄ = 165 × 10.6 µm, n = 10), macronematous, mononematous, cylindrical, straight to flexuous, branched, dark brown, multi-septate, constricted at the septa. Conidiogenous cells 6.7-35 × 5-15 µm (x̄ = 17 × 10 µm, n = 10), holoblastic, monoblastic, terminal, cylindrical, brown to dark brown. Conidia 36-69 × 19-35 µm (x̄ = 55 × 27 µm, n = 15), cylindrical rounded at ends, 2-3-septa, dark brown to black, smooth-walled.

Culture characteristics.

Ascospores germinating on PDA within 24 hours. Colonies growing on PDA 16.8 mm diam. at room temperature after 38 days and on MEA 24 mm after 12 days. Mycelium on PDA superficial to immerse, dark olivaceous to dark brown on the top, reverse dark brown to black. Conidia germinating on PDA within 48 h. Colonies growing on PDA 17 mm diam. at room temperature after 16 days. Mycelium superficial to immerse, dark olivaceous to dark brown on the top, reverse dark brown to black.

Material examined.

Thailand, Mae Fah Luang University , Chiang Rai, on dead wood of unidentified host, 20 October 2022, V. Silva, V020 (MFLU 23-0419, holotype), ex-type living culture MFLUCC 23-0275 and MFLUCC 23-0276 .

Notes.

Our collection (MFLUCC 23-0275) shares similar general characteristics to the type strain Kirschsteiniothelia lignicola (MFLUCC 10-0105), such as spherical and dark pigmented ascomata, cylindrical to claviform asci, ellipsoidal septate ascospores and cylindrical with brown conidia ( Boonmee et al. 2012). However, our collection differs from K. lignicola in having shorter asci (68-125 × 18-23 vs. 107-163.3 × 19-28.5 µm), with shorter pedicels (5-6 vs. 14.5-24 µm), shorter conidiophores (90-216 × 8-12 vs. 287-406 × 11-13 µm) and 2-3 transverse septa. Phylogenetically, our isolate clustered with K. lignicola with 84% MLBS, 1.00 BYPP. The pairwise base comparisons of the ITS and LSU sequences between K. saprophytica and K. lignicola showed identities of 93.08% (484/520, 10 gaps) and 91.18% (806/884, 4 gaps), respectively. Based on these differences, we introduce K. saprophytica as a new species.

Figures

Figure 4. Kirschsteiniothelia saprophytica (MFLUCC 23 - 0276) a host b colonies on the host, associated with asexual morph c conidiophore with conidiogenous cell and conidiospore d, e conidiophore (e - from the culture) f-j conidiospore from culture k germinating spore m, n culture on PDA (front and reverse). Scale bars: 50 µm (c-e); 20 µm (f-k).

Figure 5. Kirschsteiniothelia zizyphifolii (MFLU 23 - 0415, holotype) a colonies on wood b-d, g conidiophores and conidiogenous cells e, f conidiophores with conidia h-o conidia p germinated conidium q, r cultures on PDA from the surface and reverse. Scale bars: 200 μm (a); 100 μm (b-d); 50 μm (e, f); 20 μm (g-p).