Epicoccum rosae
Epicoccum rosae Wanas., Camporesi, E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde, in Wanasinghe et al., Fungal Diversity: 10.1007/s13225-018-0395-7, [29] (2018)
Index Fungorum number: IF 554129; Facesofungi number: FoF 03966
Etymology: The specific epithet reflects the host genus Rosa.
Holotype: MFLU 15–3639
Saprobic on Rosa spines. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Conidiomata 70–120 high × 90–130 μm diam. (x̄ = 88.5 × 108.7 μm, n = 6), pycnidial, globose to subglobose, or irregularly-shaped, immersed, solitary or confluent. Ostioles apapillate, filled with brown to hyaline cells. Pycnidial wall pseudoparenchymatous, multi-layered, 10–20 μm thick, outer wall brown, hyaline towards inner layer. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, hyaline, smooth, ampulliform, globose to flask-shaped. Conidia 4–7 × 2–3 μm (x̄ = 5.4 × 2.7 μm, n = 30), variable in shape and size, hyaline, aseptate, smooth- and thin-walled, ellipsoidal to oblong, sometimes slightly curved. Synasexual morph: Sporodochia brownish to black, scattered or aggregated. Stromata 60–120 μm high × 40–70 μm diam. (x̄ = 85 × 52 μm, n = 6), hemispherical to spherical, composed of brown to reddish-brown, pseudoparenchymatous cells. Chlamydospores 22–35 × 15–30 μm (x̄ = 24.9 × 21.9 μm, n = 30), variable and irregular, multicellular, terminal, solitary, verrucose or incidentally tuberculate, pale brown to dark brown, muriform.
Material examined: ITALY, Arezzo Province, near Ortignano, on dead aerial spines of Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae), 11 November 2015, Erio Camporesi IT 2683 (MFLU 15–3639, holotype). ibid. IT 2639 (MFLU 15–3240).
GenBank Numbers: ITS: MG828899; LSU: MG829009, MG829010.
Note: Phylogeny recovered in this study (for a concatenated dataset of LSU, ITS, BTUB and RPB2) as well as our morphological characters such as pycnidial conidiomata with hyaline conidia and hyphomycetous dark sporodochia with branched conidiophores and verruculose, muriform chlamydospores support our new species within the genus Epicoccum. Even though there are numerous Epicoccum species described from different host plants, there is no record from Rosa verified in fungal databases such like USDA (http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases). We did not obtain an isolate and therefore we isolated DNA directly from the fruiting bodies.
Figure x. Epicoccum rosae (MFLU 15–3639, holotype). a–b Appearance of black sporodochia on the host. c Section of conidioma. d–e Conidia and conidiogenous cells. f Conidia. g Sporodochia. h–k Chlamydospores (Note the rough surface in g). Scale bars: a = 500 µm, b = 200 µm, c = 20 µm, d–f = 5 µm, g–k = 10 µm.
References:
Wanasinghe DN, Phukhamsakda C, Hyde KD, Jeewon R et al. 2018 – Fungal diversity notes 709–839: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa with an emphasis on fungi on Rosaceae. Fungal diversity 89, 1–236.