Pleosporales » Didymosphaeriaceae » Paraphaeosphaeria

Paraphaeosphaeria michotii

Paraphaeosphaeria michotii (Westend.) O.E. Erikss., Arch. Botan. 6: 405 (1967)

Index Fungorum number: IF335615; Facesofungi number: FoF 03969

Saprobic on dried spine of Rosa canina. Sexual morph: Ascomata 170–264 μm high 9 145–254 μm diam. (x̄ = 224 × 215 μm, n = 5), black, semi-immersed to immersed, partly erumpent, gregarious, globose, uniloculate. Ostiolar neck papillate, filled with hyaline cells. Peridium 8–25 μm wide at the sides, outermost layer comprising reddishbrown to dark brown, thick-walled, loosely packed cells of textura angularis, inner layer composed hyaline, flattened, thin-walled cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising numerous, 2–3 μm (n = 40) wide, filamentous, branched, septate, pseudoparaphyses. Asci 64–89 × 10– 14 μm (x̄ = 72 × 12 μm, n = 20), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindric-clavate, pedicellate, rounded at the apex and with a shallow ocular chamber. Ascospores 14–20 × 4–7 μm (x̄ = 16 × 5 μm, n = 50), overlapping, biseriate, narrowly fusiform, with 1–2 septa, hyaline and guttulate at the beginning, becoming brown at maturity, rounded at the ends, rough-walled, surrounded by a thick mucilaginous sheath. Sheath 10–15 lm wide when fresh, delimited when dry. Asexual morph: Conidiomata 130–200 high × 100– 150 μm diam. (x̄ = 153 × 121 μm, n = 10) pycnidial, globose to subglobose, erumpent, solitary or confluent. Ostioles papillate, opening with a pore. Pycnidial wall 3–5-layered, 8–22 μm diam, comprising cells of textura angularis, outer wall brown, hyaline towards inner layer. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells 2–6 9 2–6 μm (x̄ = 5 × 4 μm, n = 20, cells lining the inner cavity, hyaline, smooth, ampulliform, phialidic, with periclinal thickening or percurrent proliferation at apex. Conidia 5–10 × 2–4 μm (x̄ = 7.9 × 3.4 μm, n = 50), solitary or rarely 1-septate, golden brown, ellipsoid with obtuse ends, thick-walled, roughened.

Material examined: ITALY, Forlı`-Cesena Province [FC], near San Benedetto in Alpe, on dried aerial spines of Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae), 21 October 2014, Erio Camporesi, IT 2186 (MFLU 15-1042), ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 15-0043. ibid. IT 2184 (MFLU 15-1041), extype living culture, MFLUCC 15-0041.

GenBank Numbers: ITS: MG828933, MG828934; LSU: MG829042, MG829043; SSU: MG829148, MG829149.

Note: During our investigation of saprobic fungi in Italy, two isolates (from a sexual morph, MFLUCC 15-0043 and from an asexual morph, MFLUCC 15-0041) were recovered from Rosa canina in Forlı`-Cesena Province. Multi-gene phylogenetic analyses reveal that, these two strains group with Paraphaeosphaeria michotii (MFLUCC 13-0349) as a monophyletic clade, which received strong bootstrap support. Our sexual morph or asexual morph descriptions of our new isolates did not differ with the morphological definitions of Paraphaeosphaeria michotii and hence considered our species to be the same.