Genus

Sammeyersia

Species

grandispora

Author

S.Y. Guo, E.B.G Jones, & K.L. Pang, Bot. Mar. 60(4): 483 (2017)

Class

Sordariomycetes

Order

Lulworthiales

Family

Lulworthiaceae, Subclass Lulowthiomycetidae

Synonymy: Lulworthia grandispora Meyers, Mycologia 49: 513 (1957)

Description

Sammeyersia S.Y. Guo, E.B.G. Jones & K.L. Pang, Botanica Marina 60 (4): 483 (2017)

Type species:
Sammeyersia grandispora S.Y. Guo, E.B.G. Jones, & K.L. Pang, Bot Mar 60(4): 483 (2017)

Mycobank: 820458

Sexual stage: Ascomata globose or subglobose to pyriform, immersed or superficial, ostiolate, with a long neck, brown to black, solitary or gregarious. Necks cylindrical, straight or curved, sometimes two on one ascoma. Peridium two-layered, composed of an outer layer of cells of textura angularis and an inner layer of elongated cells with large lumina; inner layer thickened at the base of the neck, composed of cells with thickened and highly melanized wall. Paraphyses absent. Asci 8-spored, elongate-fusiform or cylindrical, unitunicate, thin-walled, early deliquescing. Ascospores filamentous, curved, hyaline, tapering at each end into an elongate, conical process or apical chamber, acute or rounded, filled with mucus that is released through an apical pore. Asexual stage: unknown.
Description based on Abdel-Wahab et al. (2017) Bot. Mar. 60(4): 469–488.

Key references:
Abdel-Wahab MA, Dayarathne MC, Suetrong S, Guo SY,Alias SA, Bahkali AH, Nagahama T, Elgorban AM, Abdel-Aziz FA, Hodhod MS, Al-Hebshi MO, Hyde KD, Nor NABM, Pang KL, Jones EBG (2017). New saprobic marine fungi and a new combination. Bot Mar 60(4):469-488.

Jones EBG, Pang KL (2012). Tropical aquatic fungi. Biodivers Conserv 21: 2403–2423.

Koch J, Pang KL, Jones EBG (2007). Rostrupiella danica gen. et sp. nov., a Lulworthia-like marine lignicolous species from Denmark and the USA. Bot Mar 50: 294–301.

Meyers SP (1957). Taxonomy of marine Pyrenomycetes. Mycologia 49: 475–528.

Image:
Sammeyersia grandispora. (76) Ascomata on wood. (77) Section of elongate ascoma in wood. (78–82) Thickened cells with melanization of ascomatal wall at the base of the neck. (83) Two-layered peridium, composed of an outer layer of cells of textura angularis and an inner layer of elongate cells with large lumina. (84) Cylindrical ascus. (85) Filamentous ascospore. (86) End chamber of ascospore. Scale bars: 76 = 200 μm; 77 = 50 μm; 78–82, 84–85 = 30 μm; 83, 86 = 10 μm.
Image based on Abdel-Wahab et al. (2017) Bot. Mar. 60(4): 469–488.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

decaying bark of Rhizophora mucronata

Habitat:

Distribution:

Widely distributed in tropical locations woody substrates: Aldabra, Andaman Islands, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Liberia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Nicobar Islands, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, USA.

Pertinent Literature:

Abdel-Wahab MA, Dayarathne MC, Suetrong S, Guo SY,Alias SA, Bahkali AH, Nagahama T, Elgorban AM, Abdel-Aziz FA, Hodhod MS, Al-Hebshi MO, Hyde KD, Nor NABM, Pang KL, Jones EBG (2017). New saprobic marine fungi and a new combination. Bot Mar 60(4):469-488.

Comments:

Lulworthia grandispora is a common ascomycete in tropical/subtropical countries and a core mangrove species (Jones and Pang 2012). This species is generally identified by the length of ascospores over 400 μm; however, other distinctive characteristics from other species of Lulworthia G.K. Sutherl. are lacking (Figures 84–86). DNA of collections of L. grandispora in Taiwan, which morphologically conform to the description by Meyers (1957), was extracted and their 18S and 28S genes sequenced for a phylogenetic analysis. These isolates group consistently with the L. grandispora isolates deposited in GenBank with good posterior probability (Figure 87). Paraffin sections of the ascomata of the Taiwanese isolates have revealed thickened cells with melanisation of the ascomatal wall at the base of the neck (Figure 77–82). A melanized zone is also present in Rostrupiella danica Jørg. Koch, K.L. Pang et E.B.G. Jones but it is unique in the Lulworthiales in having a bell-like structure extending from the base of the neck and in the presence of bladder cells in the wood cells around the ascomata (Koch et al. 2007). Due to the fact that all four monophyletic isolates of L. grandispora possess the melanized region at the base of the neck of the ascomata, it is a defining character for this monophyletic clade. Consequently, a new genus was erected to accommodate this taxon: Sammeyersia.

Images

Fig 2