Hydnotrya laojunshanensis L. Li, D.Q. Zhou & Y.C. Zhao 2013

Li, Lin, Wan, Shan-Ping, Wang, Yun, Thongklang, Naritsada, Tang, Song-Ming, Luo, Zong-Long & Li, Shu-Hong, 2023, New species of Hydnotrya (Ascomycota, Pezizomycetes) from southwestern China with notes on morphological characteristics of 17 species of Hydnotrya, MycoKeys 100, pp. 49-67 : 49

Hydnotrya laojunshanensis L. Li, D.Q. Zhou & Y.C. Zhao 2013

Plate 3

Description.

Ascomata irregularly globose, 1.0-3.0 cm in diameter when fresh, brownish orange (6C8), smooth, mostly single-chambered with a primary apical opening to 0.1-0.5 cm in diameter, the opening rarely narrowing into a slit, sometimes folded forming few channels, lined with white fluffy hymenium. Elastic to crisp. No special smell was noticed.

Peridium two-layered, 350-570 µm thick, outer layer 160-200 µm thick, composed of light brown (6E8) angular or irregular cells, inner layer, 220-350 µm thick, consisting of hyaline interwoven hyphae. Gleba chamber hollow, lined with off-white (1A2) hymenium when immature; two-layered when mature, the outer layer orange (6B8), the inner layer yellowish to whitish (4A2), hymenial surface fluffy. Asci cylindrical, 331.5-390.5 × 25.5-35.5 µm, 8-spored, thin-walled, narrowed at the base into a long stalk (30-50 μm), without croziers, arranged in a palisade. Ascospore strictly uniseriate, ellipsoid (excluding the thickened exosporium), rectangular (with the exosporium), (26.5-)33.0-50.5 × (15.5-)20.5-35.5(-38.0) µm Q = 1.35 ± 0.02, surface rough, reddish orange to golden (6B8) when mature. Paraphyses hyaline, straight stick shape, 2.0-6 µm in diam, apical slightly inflated, septate, exceeding the asci by 180-300 µm.

Ecology and distribution.

Hypogeous, solitary, or in groups in soil, under Abies spp., fruiting from late summer to early autumn. Known only from Yunnan Province, China.

Additional specimens examined.

China, Yunnan Province, Laojun mountains , 26°42.00'N, 99°42.00'E, alt. 3786 m, in a forest of A. forrestii var. smithii , 30.Aug.2012, Lin Li (Holotype, YAAS L2425; GenBank KC878618 ) ; Shangri-La, 28°16.00'N, 99°11.00'E, alt. 3978 m, in a forest of Abies sp., 19 Aug. 2014, Shanping Wan (HKAS95802 GenBank: ITS = OP908303 ) , Lijiang , 26°42.00'N, 99°58.00'E, alt. 3540 m, in a forest of A. forrestii , 12 Sept. 2019, Lin Li (BMDLU L21197 GenBank: ITS = ON982592 , LSU = ON982620 ) ; Lijiang, 26°56.00'N, 99°32.00'E, alt. 3805 m, in a forest of A. forrestii , 21 Sept. 2021, Lin Li (BMDLU L21211 GenBank: ITS = ON982580 , LSU = ON982621 , BMDLU L21212 GenBank: ITS = ON982593 , LSU = ON982622 , BMDLU L21215 GenBank: ITS = ON982594 , LSU = ON982623 ) .

Notes.

When the species was described in 2013 by Li et al., only one collection from Mt. Laojun in Yunnan Province, China, was reported. More specimens of H. laojunshanensis have been found at other places in Yunnan since then. We discovered that this species had not only simple chambered ascomata but also folded, chambered ascomata. This species has large, rectangular ascospores (including thickened exsporium) with a rough surface differentiating from other species in Hydnotrya .

Figures

Plate 3. Hydnotrya laojunshanensis A young sarcomata cut in half B mature ascomata with one cut in half C infolded and chambered ascoma D section of hymenium in 5 % KOH E a peridium section in 5 % KOH F ascospores released from asci in 5 % KOH G-I ascospores under SEM (I. SEM of a single ascospore cut in half). Scale bars: 1 cm (A, B); 50 μm (D, E); 20 μm (F); 5 μm (G-I).