Xylaria wuzhishanensis Y.P. Wu & Q.R. Li, 2022

Wu, You-Peng, Pi, Yin-Hui, Long, Si-Han, Liu, Li-Li, Zhang, Xu, Long, Qing-De, Lin, Yan, Kang, Ying-Qian, Kang, Ji-Chuan, Wijayawardene, Nalin N. & Li, Qi-Rui, 2022, Morphology and phylogeny reveal two novel Xylaria (Xylariaceae) species from China, Phytotaxa 550 (2), pp. 130-146 : 141

Xylaria wuzhishanensis Y.P. Wu & Q.R. Li , sp. nov. ( Fig. 5 )

MycoBank number: MB 842170

Type:— CHINA, Hainan Province, Wuzhishan City , Wuzhishan Nature Reserve (18.541805°N, 109.412245°E), elev. 892 m, on dead wood of a plant roots ( Oleaceae sp.), November 2020, Youpeng Wu and Lili Liu, 2020WZS35 (GMB0074, holotype; KUN-HKAS 12634 , isotype; ex-type living culture, GMBC0074).

Etymology: Referring to its collection location, Wuzhishan Mountain from where the species was first isolated ( China).

Saprobic on dead wood roots, forming on the host surface. Sexual morph: Stromata 0.3–0.8 cm long × 0.6–1.2 cm broad (x = 0.6 × 0.8 cm, n = 10), semiglobular or irregularly globose, whole stromata up to with flattened or slightly convex top. Surface of stromata black, with raised blackish dots. Perithecia 300–600 μm high × 200–400 μm diam. (x = 400 × 300 μm, n = 10), oval to spherical, embedded, closely arranged, interior white. Ostioles papillate, surrounded with white tissue. Asci 235–366 × 11–20 μm (x = 293 × 14.2 μm, n = 30), 8-spored, unitunicate, cylindrical, long-stipitate, apically rounded, with a J+, rectangular or urn-shaped, apical ring, blue staining in Melzer’s reagent, 6.7–10.5 μm (x = 8.7 μm, n = 30) high, 4.2–6.5 μm (x = 5.3 μm, n = 30) wide. Ascospores 23–30.5 × 7–9 μm (x = 26.5 × 8 μm, n=30), brown to black, unicellular, ellipsoid to inequilateral, with broadly rounded ends, smooth, with a conspicuous slanted germ slit nearly one-third spore-length, lacking appendages and sheaths. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Colonies on OA reaching 3–4 mm diam. after 2 weeks at 25 °C. White at first, white at first, upright, velvety with irregular outgrowths or furrows, with a peripheral fan-shaped extension spreading toward the edge; reverse light grey in the center, white marginal area. After 4 weeks, colonies on OA reaching 9 cm diam., white greyish, velvety or inflorescence, appressed with entire margins; reverse black, with brownish ring. No conidia were observed.

Notes: Based on the multi-gene phylogenetic analyses ( Fig. 1 ), X. wuzhishanensis is most closely related to X. schweinitzii . Morphologically, X. wuzhishanensis differs from X. schweinitzii by its semi-globular or irregularly globose stromata. Xylaria wuzhishanensis shows similar traits of X. atrosphaerica (Cooke & Massee) Callan & J.D. Rogers , X. globosa (Spreng. ex Fr.: Fr.) Mont., and X. lepidota Y.M. Ju et al. with semiglobular or irregularly globose stromata. But, X. wuzhishanensis can distinguish from X. atrosphaerica by its larger ascospores (23–30.5 × 7–9 μm vs. 17–25 × 6–10 μm) with a shorter germ slit ( Callan et al. 1990). The surface of stroma lacks crackle of X. wuzhishanensis , which can make a distinction between X. globosa and X. lepidota ( Ju et al. 2009, Fournier et al. 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 1. RAxML tree based on analysis of a combined dataset of β-tubulin, rpb2 and α-actin sequence dataset from selected species of Xylariales. Bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood (ML) greater than 50%, and Bayesian posterior probabilities (BYPP) greater than 0.90 are given at the nodes. Strain numbers are noted after the species names. Ex-type strains are in bold. Newly generated taxa are in red. The tree is rooted to the outgroup of Camillea obularia (ATCC 28093).

FIGURE 5. Xylaria wuzhishanensis (GMB0074, holotype). A–B. Stromata on the surface of host. C. Close-up of stromata surface, ostioles in red arrow. D. Transverse section of stroma. E. Longitudinal section of stroma. F. Ascus apex with a J+, apical ring (stained in Melzer’s reagent). G. Culture on OA from above and below. H–J.Asci with ascospores. K, L.Ascospores. M.Ascospores with indehiscent perispore in 10% KOH. Scale bars: B = 3 mm, C–E = 200 μm, F, H–M = 10 μm.