Tranzscheliella helutae K.G. Savchenko, 2023

Savchenko, Kyryll & Mahmood, Huda, 2023, Tranzscheliella helutae sp. nov. on Agropyron cristatum from Ukraine, Phytotaxa 592 (2), pp. 151-156 : 154-155

Tranzscheliella helutae K.G. Savchenko sp. nov.

MycoBank: 846947

Etymology: After a Ukrainian mycologist Dr. Vasyl P. Heluta.

Sori in the culms and surrounding the upper internodes and axes of abortive inflorescences, initially covered by the leaf sheath, later exposed. Peridium absent. Spore mass semi-agglutinated to powdery, dark brown. Spores globose to subglobose, 4.5–5.5 × 5–6.5 μm, dark olive-brown. Spores rarely with polar cups, medium brown, without appendages; spore wall c. 0.5–1 μm, smooth. In SEM unevenly, moderately verruculose.

Typification: UKRAINE. Kherson Oblast: Hola Prystan District, Chernomorsky Biosphere Reserve , 46°45′15′′ N, 32°12′74′′ E, 7 m. asl, On Agropyron cristatum , 07 June 2009, K. G. Savchenko, BUT-F 304 (holotype) .

Other specimens examined: UKRAINE. Kherson Oblast: Hola Prystan District, Chernomorsky Biosphere Reserve , 46°31′35′′ N, 31°94′22′′ E, 1 m. asl, on Agropyron cristatum , 09 June 2009, K. G. Savchenko, BUT-F 305 (paratype) .

Note— Tranzscheliella helutae is a part of T. hypodytes species complex. Tranzscheliella helutae is the only species from this genus occurring on Agropyron (subfamily Pooideae , tribe Triticeae ). Agropyron contains about seven species found in temperate, mostly arid regions of Eurasia ( Dewey 1986). Several species of Agropyron were listed as hosts of T. hypodytes s.l. by Vánky (2012). Tranzscheliella helutae has slightly larger and darker spores than T. hypodytes s.str. (4–4.5 × 4.5–5.5 μm). The spores of T. helutae are unevenly, and moderately verruculose in SEM, which differ from the densely, minutely, uniformly verruculose spores of T. hypodytes s.str. In the phylogenetic analysis, specimens of T. helutae were resolved in a well-supported monophyletic clade ( Fig. 1 ). In a concatenated alignment there are 25 base pair differences between T. helutae and the most closely related species, T. yupeitaniae .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bayesian inference of phylogenetic relationships among the sampled Tranzscheliella species: Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis of an alignment of concatenated ITS + 28S rDNA sequences using the GTR+I+G model of DNA substitution with gamma distributed rates and an estimation of invariant sites, random starting trees, and default starting parameters of the DNA substitution model. The topology was rooted with Ustanciosporium standleyanum. Numbers on branches are maximum likelihood bootstrap support values/ estimates for a posteriori probabilities. The new species is indicated in bold. T. = Tranzscheliella.