Samsoniella anhuiensis T. Wang, Ming J. Chen & B. Huang, 2024

Wang, Ting, Li, Jun, Chang, Xiaoyun, Li, Zengzhi, Hywel-Jones, Nigel L., Huang, Bo & Chen, Mingjun, 2024, Morphology and multigene phylogeny reveal three new species of Samsoniella (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) from spiders in China, MycoKeys 101, pp. 329-346 : 329

Samsoniella anhuiensis T. Wang, Ming J. Chen & B. Huang sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Etymology.

Named after the location Anhui Province where the species was originally collected.

Typification.

China. Anhui Province: Xuancheng City, the Jingting Mountains National Forest Park, on a spider attached to a leaf, 15 March 2006, Mingjun Chen & Xueqiu Zhao, holotype XC20060315-06. Sequences from strain RCEF2830 and RCEF2590 have been submitted to GenBank with accession numbers. RCEF2830: SSU = OM268844; LSU = OM268849; TEF = OM483865; RPB1 = OM751889. RCEF2590: SSU = OR978313; LSU = OR978316; TEF = OR966516; RPB1 = OR989964.

Description.

Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Isaria -like. Synnemata arising from the whole body of spider, white, flexuous, multiple, fleshy, up to 12 mm long, with terminal branched, white conidia produced from the branches of synnemata, powdery and floccose (Fig. 2A ). Conidiophores arising from the aerial and prostrate hyphae, solitary and verticillate. Phialides in whorls of 2-5, 5.0-15.2 × 1.5-2.3 μm, smooth-walled, with basal portion swollen to ellipsoidal, tapering into a distinct neck, 1.8-5.2 × 0.8-1.2 μm. Conidia in chains, spherical to elliptical, aseptate, hyaline, 2.1-3.2 × 1.3-2.2 μm.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies on 1/4 SDAY, attaining a diam 38-42 mm in 14 d at 25 °C. Colonies white, with smooth and neat edge, with high mycelial density at the centrum (Fig. 2B ). Reverse pale yellow to yellowish, appears flesh pink at 30 d. Hyphae smooth, septate, hyaline, 1.5-2.3 μm width. Erect conidiophores usually arising from aerial hyphae, with phialides in whorls of two to three or occasionally with solitary phialides along the hyphae. Phialides basal portion cylindrical, tapering to a distinct neck, 4.8-16.0 μm long, 1.4-2.0 μm basal width and 0.6-1.0 μm distinct neck width. Conidia in (Fig. 2D ), smooth-walled, hyaline, spherical to elliptical, ovoid, occasionally pointed at both ends, 2.4-3.2 × 1.5-2.1 μm (Fig. 2F ). Chlamydospores and synnemata not observed.

Colonies on PDA, 39-41mm diameter in 14 d at 25 °C, white. The central part of the colony is raised and appears light yellowish (Fig. 2C ). Reverse yellowish in the center. Hyphae smooth, septate, hyaline, with septum and branches, 1.5-2.8 μm width, with phialides in whorls of two to five. Phialides basal portion cylindrical, tapering to a distinct neck, (7-)8-11.5(-13) μm long, 1.3-2.2 μm basal width and 0.5-0.8 μm distinct neck width (Fig. 2E ). Conidia in chains, 1-celled, smooth-walled, hyaline, fusiform, elliptical, to obovate, 2-3(-3.5) × 1-2.5 μm (Fig. 2G ).

Habitat.

Occurring on spider attached to the upperside of tree leaf.

Notes.

Samsoniella anhuiensis was easily identified as belonging to Samsoniella based on the phylogenetic analyses (Fig. 1 ). Based on the combined multigene dataset, S. anhuiensis has an independent branch and has a close relationship with S. tiankengensis . However, colonies of S. tiankengensis exhibit a faster growth rate on PDA compared to S. anhuiensis , displaying white to light pink colonies with a light yellowish reverse. In contrast, colonies of S. anhuiensis appear light yellowish and take on a flesh-pink hue at 30 days on 1/4 SDAY, with a yellowish center in reverse. Notably, S. anhuiensis distinguishes itself from S. tiankengensis through the presence of larger spherical, elliptical to ovoid conidia (Table 2 ).

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic relationships between the genus Samsoniella and closely-related species, based on multigene dataset (SSU, LSU, TEF, RPB 1 and RPB 2) for maximum likelihood / Bayesian method. Note: The ML tree presented here, and the node support rate of the two methods is displayed on the branches. The maximum likelihood support values / Bayesian posterior probabilities value (≥ 75 % / 0.75) are shown, and bold lines mean support for the two analyses were 98 %. The typical strain of the species is marked with the superscript " T "

Figure 2. Samsoniella anhuiensis A fungus on spider B colony on SDAY / 4 C colony on PDA D, F conidiophores structure and conidia on SDAY / 4 E, G conidiophores structure and conidia on PDA. Scale bars: 15 mm (B, C); 10 μm (D-G).