Genistellospora homothallica Lichtw, 1972.

Valle, Laia Guardia & Stoianova, Desislava, 2020, First record of Harpellales, Orphellales (Kickxellomycotina) and Amoebidiales (Mesomycetozoea) from Bulgaria, including a new species of Glotzia, MycoKeys 67, pp. 55-80 : 55

Genistellospora homothallica Lichtw, 1972. Figs 1 , 2

Specimens examined.

Site 2: slides BUL-2-1, BUL-2-6, BUL-2-7 (zygo.), BUL-2-10; Site 3: slides BUL-3-1; site 4: slides BUL-4-10; Site 7: slides BUL-7-1, BUL-7-2, BUL-7-3; site 8: slides BUL-8-3; site 12: slide BUL-12-5.

Notes.

Genistellospora homothallica is a cosmopolitan species and its Simuliidae hosts are widespread and common in varied environments ( Lichtwardt et al. 2001), especially in fast flowing waters. This species has been previously documented from many countries in the Northern Hemisphere, including USA ( Lichtwardt 1972), Canada ( Moss and Lichtwardt 1976), United Kingdom ( Lichtwardt 1986), Spain ( Santamaria and Girbal 1998), France ( Valle 2004), Italy ( Valle et al. 2013) and Portugal ( Valle 2013a). The species has also been recorded from Southern tropical regions, including Costa Rica ( Lichtwardt 1997), Puerto Rico ( White et al. 2000), Argentina ( López-Lastra et al. 2005), Dominican Republic ( Valle and Cafaro 2010), Chile ( Lichtwardt and Arenas 1996) and Colombia ( Barón and Valle 2018). Trichospores of G. homothallica are typically ovate-elongated, slightly asymmetrical, measuring 34-40 × 10.5-12 μm in our collections. Young zygospores were observed in one Bulgarian specimen (BUL-2-7) with the characteristic zygosporophore of the species, bearing a straight or reflexed thumb-like terminal cell measuring 43-58 μm length. Often, G. homothallica thalli were covered with thalli of the epithallic Simuliomyces microsporus Lichtw., as seen in Fig. 2 (arrows).

Figures

Figures 1, 2. Genistellospora homothallica and Simuliomyces microsporus from Simuliidae larvae. 1 Fertile branches of G. homothallica with terminal trichospores 2 fertile branches and trichospores of G. homothallica with an attached thallus of S. microsporus showing a trichospore (arrow) and conjugation tubes (arrowhead). Scale bars: 25 μm in all figures.