Genus

Lophiostoma

Species

rhizophorae

Author

(Poonyth, K.D. Hyde, Aptroot & Peerally) Aptroot & K.D. Hyde, Fungi in Marine Environments (Fungal Diversity Research Series 7): 108 (2002)

Class

Dothideomycetes, Subclass Pleosporomycetidae

Order

Pleosporales

Family

Lophiostomataceae

Synonymy: ≡Massarina rhizophorae Poonyth, K.D. Hyde, Aptroot & Peerally, Fungal Diversity 3: 144 (1999)

Description

Lophiostoma Ces. & De Not., Commentario della Società Crittogamologica Italiana 1 (4): 219 (1863)

Type species:

Lophiostoma macrostomum (Tode) Ces. & De Not., Commentario della Società Crittogamologica Italiana 1 (4): 219 (1863)

Marine species:

Lophiostoma rhizophorae (Poonyth, K.D. Hyde, Aptroot & Peerally) Aptroot & K.D. Hyde, Fungi in Marine Environments (Fungal Diversity Research Series 7): 108 (2002)

≡Massarina rhizophorae Poonyth, K.D. Hyde, Aptroot & Peerally, Fungal Diversity 3: 144 (1999)

Index Fungorum Number: 375331 Faceoffungi number:N/A

Saprobic, Sexual morph: Ascomata 140–160 high um, 90-120 um diam., partially immersed, obovoid, necks appearing as black cones on substrate surface, solitary or gregarious. Neck short, with a rounded ostiole, ca. 20 um diam., periphysate. Pseudoparaphyses branched, numerous, anastomosing above asci, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 70–86 x 12–14 um, 8–spored, cylindrical to clavate, short pedicellate, fissitunicate, thick-walled; apex rounded with an ocular chamber. Ascospores 22–28(–33) x 4.5–6.5 um, overlapping uniseriate or biseriate, narrowly fusiform with pointed ends, hyaline, guttulate, 1–septate, not constricted at the septum; surrounded by a 1 um thick mucilaginous sheath protracted to 2–6 um at ends, ending bluntly.

Key references:

Aptroot A (1998). A world revision of Massarina (Ascomycota). Nova Hedwigia 66: 89–162.

Gnavi G, Ercole E, Panno L, Vizzini A, Varese GC (2014). Dothideomycetes and Leotiomycetes sterile mycelia isolated from the Italian seagrass. SpringerPlus 2014, 3:508.

Hyde KD, Wong WSW, Aptroot A (2002). Marine and estuarine species of Lophiostoma and Massarina. In: Fungi in Marine Environments (Fungal Diversity Research Series 7). :93–109.

Poonyth AD, Hyde KD, Aptroot A, Peerally A (1999). Three new species of Massarina associated with terrestrial, non-marine parts of mangroves. Fungal Diversity. 3:139–146.

Key to marine Lophiostoma species:

1. Species saprobic on the fern Acrostichum speciosum L. acrostichi

1. Species on other substrata 2

2. Species saprobic on Rhizophora mucronata L. rhizophorae

2. Species isolated as endophytes of marine plants L. corticola

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

Saprobic on Rhizophora mucronata.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Mauritius.

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: This is another Massarina species transferred to Lophiostoma by Hyde et al. (2002) but most require to be recollected and sequenced. Lophiostoma rhizophorae (=Massarina rhizophorae) has a unique appendage type not shown by any of the species reported in the monograph by Aptroot (1998). The size of the 1-septate ascospores of Lophiostoma amphidium (=Massarina amphibia) (23-32 x 4-7 /lm) agree with those of the present species, but its protracted sheaths do not end bluntly (Aptroot 1998). Lophiostoma amphibia is a temperate, boreo-alpine species and it is unlikely to be the same species that occurs on tropical coasts (Aptroot 1998). There is no molecular data for L. rhizophorae, and further collections are required to verify its taxonomic position. Two Lophiostoma species have been collected on decaying mangrove substrates while a third (Lophiostoma corticola) is only known as an endophyte isolated from mangrove plants (Sakayaroj et al. (2012) and identified by molecular data. Three endophyte isolates grouped with 100% statistical support with L. corticola based on ITS sequences generated from maximum parsimony analysis. Similarly, L. corticola has been isolated from the seagrass Posidonia oceanica in Italy

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