Genus

Quintaria

Species

lignatilis

Author

(Kohlm.) Kohlm. & Volkm.-Kohlm., 1991. Bot. Mar., 34: 35.

Class

Dothideomycetes, Subclass Pleosporomycetidae

Order

Pleosporales

Family

Lophiostomataceae

Synonymy: = Trematosphaeria lignatilis Kohlm., P.S.Z.N.I: Mar. Ecol., 5: 365 (1984).

Description

Type species:

Quintaria lignatilis (Kohlm.) Kohlm. & Volkm.-Kohlm., 1991. Bot. Mar., 34: 35.

= Trematosphaeria lignatilis Kohlm., P.S.Z.N.I: Mar. Ecol., 5: 365 (1984).

Sexual morph: saprobic, Ascomata: 340-670 µm high, 350-600 µm in diam., obpyriform, somewhat compressed laterally, completely immersed, ostiolate, papillate, carbonaceous to coriaceous, black, gregarious. Peridium: 40-50 µm thick, 2-layered; outer stratum 20-30 µm thick, composed of irregular hyphoid cells mixed with decomposing wood or bark particles; inner stratum 16-20 µm thick, composed of flattened cells, forming a textura angularis, with oil droplets in the lumina and black pigment deposits in the cell walls. Necks: 250-460 µm long, 160-280 µm in diam., irregularly cylindrical; ostiolar canal 90 um in diam., filled with a network of thin, hyaline hyphae, embedded in a gelatinous matrix, black incrustations lining the sides of the canal. Pseudoparaphyses: 1.5-3.5 µm in diam., more or less parallel between the asci and unbranched, becoming trabeculate (branched and anastomosing), above the asci and merging with the periphysoid filaments in the ostiolar canal, embedded in gelatinous matrix which often adheres to asci in squash mounts. Asci: 230-290 x 28-37 µm, 8-spored, cylindrical, pedunculate, thick-walled, fissitunicate, with an inconspicuous, often gigantean refractive apical plate, not bluing in IKI (IKI-negative); arising from a basal ascogenous tissue. Ascospores: 51-80 x 14-20 µm, biseriate, fusiform, 5-septate, slightly constricted at the central septum, less so at the others, hyaline, rarely pale yellowish, smooth-walled, filled with many oil droplets. Asexual morph: Undetermined (Description based on Kohlmeyer (1984)).

Key references:

Hyde KD, Goh TK (1999) Some new melannommataceous fungi from woody substrata and a key to genera of lignicolous loculoascomycetes in freshwater. Nova Hedwigia. 68: 251-272.

Kohlmeyer J (1984) Tropical marine fungi. Marine Ecology. 5(4): 329-378.

Kohlmeyer J, Volkmann-Kohlmeyer B (1991) Illustrated key to the filamentous higher marine fungi. Botanica Marina. 34: 1-61.

Zhang Y, Fournier J, Jeewon R, Hyde KD (2008) Quintaria microsporum sp. nov., from a stream in France. Cryptogamie Mycologie. 29(2):179-182.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

saprobic on intertidal wood, on immersed mangrove wood of Avicennia alba, A. officinalis, A. marina, A. Aegiceras corniculatum, Bruguiera gymnorhiza Ceriops decandra, C. tagal, Pemphis acidula bark of mangroves, prop roots pf Rhizophora mucronata.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: Quintaria lignatilis was initially described as a Trematosphaeria species (Kohlmeyer 1984), but Kohlmeyer & Volkmann-Kohlmeyer (1991) revised their opinion that it did not belong in that genus and assigned it to a new genus Quintaria. Subsequently, three other Quintaria were introduced for species collected on wood in freshwater streams (Hyde & Goh 1999, Zhang et al. 2008). The taxonomic placement of Quintaria lignatilis is not resolved as the genus is polyphyletic. Suetrong et al. (2009) showed that Q. lignatilis formed a sister clade to the Testudinaceae with low support. Hyde et al. (2013) showed that the freshwater Quintaria submersus grouped in the Lindgomycetaceae, but Q. lignatils was not included in the analysis. Until further collections are made and sequenced we refer Q. lignatilis to Ascomycota incertae sedis. Clearly, Q. lignatils is quite a common species on mangrove wood, has been widely collected in Indian mangroves (see for details in Bose et al. 2012) and reported from mangroves in all the oceans of the world. However, Alias & Jones (2011) list it as one of the rare fungi occurring in mangroves (˂ 2% occurrence).

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