Aplosporella yanqingensis L. Lin & X.L. Fan, 2023

Lin, Lu, Bai, Yukun, Pan, Meng, Tian, Chengming & Fan, Xinlei, 2023, Morphology and molecular analyses reveal three new species of Botryosphaeriales isolated from diseased plant branches in China, MycoKeys 97, pp. 1-19 : 1

Aplosporella yanqingensis L. Lin & X.L. Fan sp. nov.

Fig. 4

Etymology.

Named after the collection site of the type specimen, Yanqing District in Beijing City.

Description.

Conidiomata pycnidial, immersed to semi immersed, erumpent from bark surface, multilocular, 650-1500 μm in diam. Disc straw to greenish olivaceous, circular to ovoid, 350-650 μm in diam, with one central ostiole per disc. Ostioles inconspicuous, sometimes covered below disc by lighter entostroma, 100-300 µm in diam. Locules multiple, irregularly arranged, subdivided frequently by invaginations with common walls. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells hyaline, phialidic, 6.0-13.5 × 2.0-3.0 μm (av. ± S.D. = 10.7 ± 2.0 × 2.5 ± 0.2 μm). Paraphyses present, hyaline, smooth-walled, septate, unbranched, 26.5-37.5 × 2.0-3.0 μm (av. ± S.D. = 32.0 ± 3.5 × 2.4 ± 0.3 μm). Conidia aseptate, smooth, ellipsoid to subcylindrical, brown when mature, 16.0-21.5 × 6.0-9.5 μm (av. ± S.D. = 18.5 ± 1.3 × 7.7 ± 0.7 μm). Sexual morph not observed.

Culture characters.

Colonies on PDA spreading, white to pale grey, covering a 90 mm plate after 14 days at 25 °C. Colonies on MEA spreading, uniform with appressed aerial mycelium and crenate edge, upper white, reverse pale luteous covering a 90 mm plate after 14 days at 25 °C.

Materials examined.

China, Beijing City, Yanqing District, Yeyahu National Wetland Park , 40°24'55.43"N, 115°50'26.42"E, on branches of Platycladus orientalis , 25 July 2022, Yukun Bai & Xinlei Fan (holotype BJFC CF20230104, ex-holotype culture CFCC 58791); 40°24'55.46"N, 115°50'26.42"E, on branches of Platycladus orientalis , 25 July 2022, Yukun Bai & Xinlei Fan (paratype BJFC CF20230105, ex-paratype culture CFCC 58792) .

Notes.

In the multi-gene analyses, A. yanqingensis is distinct and forms a moderately supported lineage clade (Fig. 1 ). In the ITS tree, A. yanqingensis shows a close relationship with a clade containing A. africana F.J.J. Van der Walt, Slippers & G.J. Marais, A. macropycnidia Dou & Y. Zhang ter, A. papillata F.J.J. Van der Walt, Slippers & G.J. Marais, A. prunicola Damm & Crous, A. sophorae Crous & Thangavel, and A. yalgorensis K.M. Taylor, P.A. Barber & T.I. Burgess. However, it differs from A. africana by longer conidia (18.5 × 7.7 vs. 14 × 8.5 μm) ( Slippers et al. 2014), differs from A. macropycnidia by shorter paraphyses (32.0 × 2.4 vs. 38.4 × 2.9 μm) ( Dou et al. 2017), differs from A. papillata by larger conidiogenous cells (10.7 × 2.5 vs. 7.4 × 2 μm) ( Slippers et al. 2014), and differs from A. prunicola and A. yalgorensis by smaller conidia (18.5 × 7.7 vs. 20.2 × 11 for A. prunicola and 19.9 × 10.7 for A. yalgorensis ) ( Damm et al. 2007; Taylor et al. 2009). Besides, A. yanqingensis differs from A. sophorae by 25/528 in ITS region. Therefore, A. yanqingensis is introduced herein as a novel species. This is a new record of species in Aplosporella occurring on the host genus Platycladus .

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogram of Aplosporella resulting from a maximum likelihood analysis based on combined ITS and tef 1 loci. Numbers above the branches indicateML bootstrap values (ML-BS ≥ 70 %) and Bayesian Posterior Probabilities (BPP ≥ 0.9). The tree is rooted with Alanomyces indica CBS 134264. Ex-type isolates are in bold. Isolates from the present study are marked in blue.

Figure 4. Aplosporella yanqingensis (BJFC CF 20230104) A, B habit of conidiomata on twig C transverse section of conidiomata D longitudinal section through a conidioma E, F conidiogenous cells and paraphyses G conidia H colony on PDA at 14 days I colony on MEA at 14 days. Scale bars: 2 mm (A); 1 mm (C); 500 µm (B, D); 10 µm (E-G).