Genus

Paraaniptodera

Species

longispora

Author

(K.D. Hyde) K.L. Pang, C.L. Lu, W.T. Ju et E.B.G. Jones, Bot. Mar. (In press, 2017).

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy: ≡ Aniptodera longispora K.D. Hyde, Bot. Mar. 33 (4): 335-338 (1990).

Description

Sexual morph: Ascomata 270-390 µm long, 180-260 µm wide and 150-205 µm thick, pyriform to subglobose in frontal view, ellipsoidal in end view, lying horizontally immersed in the substrate, membranous, light brown to black above, hyaline below, ostiolate, papillate, solitary or gregarious. Peridium 15-28 µm thick, outer layer of melanised thick-walled angular cells, inner layer of hyaline thin-walled elongate cells. Neck periphysate. Catenophyses present. Asci 145-201 × 24-31 µm, 8-spored, clavate, short pedicel, unitunicate, persistent, thin-walled, apically thickened with a pore. Ascospores 39-51 × 9-13.5 µm. cylindrical with rounded apices, 2-3 seriate, 1-septate, slightly constricted at the septum, each cell with a prominent guttule, hyaline, lacking appendages or a sheath. Asexual morph not observed.

Key references:

Alias SA, Jones EBG, (2009) Fungi from mangroves of Malaysia. Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. pp. 109.

Alias SA, Moss ST, Jones EBG (2001) Cucullosporella mangrovei, ultrastructure of ascospores and their appendages. Mycoscience 42: 405-411.

Hyde KD (1990) A new marine Ascomycete from Brunei. Aniptodera longispora sp. nov. from intertidal mangrove wood. Botanica Marina 33: 335-338.

Jones EBG, Ju WT, Lu CL, Guo SY, Pang KL (2017) The Halosphaeriaceae revisited. Botanica Marina (In press).

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

dead roots of the mangrove tree Rhizophora apiculata.

Habitat:

Rhizophora apiculata.

Distribution:

Australia, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, USA (Florida).

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: Paraaniptodera longispora was originally described by Hyde (1990) from dead roots of the mangrove tree Rhizophora apiculata. It was referred to Aniptodera based on cylindrical ascospores with rounded apices and lacking polar appendages and these features distinguish it from other Aniptodera species. Morphologically it shares features with Naïs and Ligninicola, genera with 1-septate ascospores lacking appendages, but asci in these genera lack apical pores to the asci (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer 1979). Sequence data show that it does not group with the type species of the genus, but forms a sister clade to two strains of Cucullosporella mangrovei in the Halosphaeriaceae (Jones et al. 2017). Ascospores of C. mangrovei have similar measurements (49-64 × 16-24 µm) to P. longispora and both occur in mangrove habitats (Alias and Jones 2009). They differ in that C. mangrovei has bipolar unfurling appendages that are extruded through a collar-like structure (Alias et al. 2001).

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