Lecanicillium dimorphum (J.D. Chen) Zare & W. Gams

Yasanthika, Erandi, Wanasinghe, Dhanushka N., Ren, Guang-Cong, Karunarathna, Samantha C., Tennakoon, Danushka S., Monkai, Jutamart, Gui, Heng, Mortimer, Peter E., Lumyong, Saisamorn & Hyde, Kevin D., 2021, Taxonomic and phylogenetic insights into novel Ascomycota from contaminated soils in Yunnan, China, Phytotaxa 513 (3), pp. 203-225 : 214

Lecanicillium dimorphum (J.D. Chen) Zare & W. Gams , Nova Hedwigia 73: 24 (2001).

Index Fungorum number: IF484540, Facesoffungi number: FoF09618, FIGURE 5 .

Culture characteristics:— Colonies on PDA reaching 24–42 mm diam. in 10 days at 24 °C, raised, filamentous, margin entire, surface white, reverse cream to brownish cream or red in PDA. Mycelium hyaline, immature aseptate and hyphae becoming septate and 1.3–3.9 µm wide when mature. Conidiogenous cells present in two types, phialides and aphanophialides. Phialides are aculeate, persistent forming from prostrate hyphae, solitary or 2–5 in terminal whorls, 12 µm long, 5.5–4.5 µm wide at the base, gradually tapering towards apex, often branching into short secondary phialides. Aphanophialides are short, inflated, caducous 7.5 × 2.5 µm, producing solitary conidia, forming small and hardly visible denticles. Conidia have two types, microconidia and macroconidia forming from phialides. macroconidia falcate, 9.7 × 2.9 µm, with sharply pointed ends microconidia oval to ellipsoidal, 3× 1.9 µm, only produced from aphanophialides,

Known hosts and substrates:— Agaricus bisporus and Puccinia coronata , leaf litter of Acer saccharum and soil ( Chen et al. 1985, Zare & Gams 2001, Gams & Zare 2003)

Known distribution:— China, Germany, Great Britain, Iran, Israel, Netherlands, USA ( Chen et al. 1985, Zare & Gams 2001, Gams & Zare 2003).

Material examined:— China, Yunnan Province, Kunming City , 25.047865N, 102.721724 E, industrial wastecontaminated soil, 16 December 2019, G. C . Ren ( HKAS107657 ); living culture, KUMCC 20-0228 .

GenBank Accession No:— ITS: MW 575642 , LSU: MW 567460 , tef 1-α: MW 590261 , SSU: MW 575641 rpb 2: MW 590263

Notes:— Lecanicillium dimorphum was previously known as Aphanocladium dimorphum ( CBS 363.86), which was introduced by Chen et al. (1985) from Agaricus bisporus in Yunnan Province, China. This species was synonymized by Zare & Gams (2001) based on the CBS 573.77 strain; isolated from leaf litter ( Acer saccharum ) in the USA. The first record of L. dimorphum ( CBS 154.82) in soil was reported in the Netherlands ( Zare & Gams 2001).

Optimum growth temperatures for Lecanicillium dimorphum range from 24–27 ° C and crystal production can be seen on the culture ( Zare & Gams 2001). However, we did not observe crystal production in our isolate ( KUMCC 20-0228). Lecanicillium dimorphum shows intermediate morphological characteristics between L. psalliotae and L. aphanocladii ( Zare et al. 2000, Zare & Gams 2001, Su et al. 2019). Lecanicillium dimorphum differs from L. psalliotae in having aphanophialides and is morphologically distinct from L. aphanocladii by its macroconidia ( Zare & Gams 2001). Our isolate of L. dimorphum ( KUMCC 20-0228) shows similar morphological characteristics to other L. dimorphum collections ( CBS 154.82, CBS 573.77) in having two types of conidia; falcate macro conidia with sharply pointed ends and oval to ellipsoidal microconidia forming from aphanophialides ( Zare & Gams 2001). The multi-gene phylogeny also indicates that our collection groups with other L. dimorphum strains in a well-supported clade (97% ML, 0.99 BYPP). Based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence, we account our collection as a new record of L. dimorphum ( KUMCC 20-0228) from industrial waste-contaminated soil in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Lecanicillium dimorphum (HKAS 107658) a. Mature colony on PDA after 4 weeks with the sporulation b. Reverse of the colonies on PDA after 4 weeks c. Sporulation of the colony with mycelium. d. Mature septate hyphae. e. Phialides produced on prostrate hyphae f. Solitary phialide g, h. Caducous aphanophialides with microconidia i–m. Macroconidia n–r. Microconidia. Scale bars: e, f = 20 μm, d, g–i, p = 10 μm j, k, m–o, q, r = 5