Genus

Tirispora

Species

unicaudata

Author

E.B.G. Jones & Vrijmoed

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy:

Description

Ascomata: 90-(184)-300 μm high, 66-(134)-216 μm diam., globose to subglobose, pale to dark brown, superficial, solitary, ostiolate, papillate.

Necks: 22-(32)-48 μm long, 12-(32)-46 μm diam., periphysate.

Peridium: thin, 4-6 layers of elongated cells.

Catenophyses: present.

Asci: 40-(62)-80 × 14-(21)-28 μm, thick-walled, unitunicate, eight-spored, clavate, persistent, with a ring and apical plate, pedicellate.

Ascospores: 24-(29)-32 × 8-(10)-12 μm, hyaline, ellipsoidal, thick-walled, 1-septate, not constricted at the septum, appendaged. Appendages unipolar, unfurling into fine thread in water.

Culture: -

Anamorph: undetermined.

Key to species:

Asci with retracted plasmalemma, an apical ring and pore, catenophyses present, ascospores 24-32 x 8-12 μm T. unicaudata
No retraction of the plasamlemma, no catenophyses, ascospores 15-22 x 8-12 μm T. mandoviana

Key references:

Ananda K, Sridhar KR (2001). Aniptodera indica, a new species of mangrove inhabiting ascomycete from west coast of India. Journal Environmental Biology 22: 283-286.

Jones EBG, Sakayaroj J, Suetrong S, Somrithipol S, Pang KL. (2009). Classification of marine Ascomycota, anamorphic taxa and Basidiomycota. Fungal Diversity 35: 1-187.

Pang KL, Vrijmoed LLP, Kong RYC, Jones EBG. (2003a). Polyphyly of Halosarpheia (Halosphaeriales, Ascomycota): implications on the use of unfurling ascospore appendage as a systematic character. Nova Hedwigia 77: 1-18.

Pang KL, Vrijmoed LLP, Kong RYC, Jones EBG. (2003b). Lignincola and Nais, polyphyletic genera of the Halosphaeriales (Ascomycota). Mycological Progress 2: 29-36.

Sakayaroj J, Pang KL, Jones EBG (2011). Multi-gene phylogeny of the Halosphaeriaceae: its ordinal status, relationships between genera and morphological character evolution. Fungal Divers. 46: 87-109. DOI 10.1007/s3225-010-0072-y.

Sarma VV, Hyde KD (2000). Tirispora mandoviana sp. nov. from Chorao mangroves, Goa, the west coast of India. Australian Mycology 19: 52-56.

Image: Tirispora unicaudata. (a) Section of immersed ascoma. (b) Periphysate ascoma neck. (c) One-layered peridium of elongated cells. (d) Ellipsoidal thin-walled ascus. (e) Ascospores with an unfurling appendage at one end. Scale bar: a=50 μm; b, c, d, e, f=10 μm. Photo reproduced with the permission of the National Taiwan Ocean University.

Type & Location:

HOLOTYPE: Hong Kong, On intertidal stems of Acanthus ilicifolius, (IMI 359653 holotype).

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

dead mangrove wood.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Taiwan.

Pertinent Literature:

Can. J. Bot. 72: 1373 (1994)

Comments:

This is a rare species, only collected in mangrove environments. This species is morphologically similar to Aniptodera chesapeakensis with the main difference in the presence of unipolar, unfurling appendages on the ascospores. Phylogenetically, both Aniptodera and Tirispora shared a clade with other morphologically allied taxa, but they were not monophyletic (Pang et al. 2003, b). In a multi-gene phylogeny of the Halosphaeriaceae T. unicaudata formed a sister clade to Nimbospora effusa and distant from the Aniptodera sensu stricto clade (Sakayaroj et al. 2011). Ananda and Sridhar (2001) described Tirispora indica from Indian mangroves but was found to be identical to T. unicaudata and reduced to synonym with that species (Jones et al. 2009). A further species T. mandoviana was described by Sarma and Hyde (2000) from a freshwater habitat, but was subsequently collected in Indian mangroves by Maria and Sridhar

Images

Fig 2