Dematiopleospora cirsii

Dematiopleospora cirsii Wanas., Camporesi, E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde, in Hyde et al., Fungal Diversity 2015: [89] (2015) [2016]

Index Fungorum number: IF 552135; Facesofungi number: FoF 02205

Etymology: Name reflects the host genus Cirsium, from which the species was collected.

Holotype: MFLU 16-0145.

Saprobic on dead and hanging branches of Cirsium sp. Sexual morph: Ascomata 250–300 μm high 250–350 μm diam. (x̄ = 271.1 × 299.5 μm, n = 5), immersed to semi-erumpent, solitary, scattered, broadly oblong and flattened, dark brown to black, coriaceous, cupulate when dry, ostiolate. Ostiole 50–65 μm high 40–50 μm diam. (x̄ = 58.2 × 43.4 μm, n = 5), papillate, black, smooth, with short and light brown setae. Peridium 10–20 μm wide at the base, 15–30 μm wide in sides, thick, with 4–5 layers, outer layer heavily pigmented, thick-walled, comprising reddish to dark brown cells of textura angularis, inner layer composed of hyaline thin-walled cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising numerous, 1.5–2 μm wide, filamentous, branched, septate, pseudoparaphyses. Asci 80–120 × 10–14 μm (x̄ = 100.9 × 12.3 μm, n = 30), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to cylindricclavate, pedicellate, thick-walled at the apex, with minute ocular chamber. Ascospores 20–30 × 6–9 μm (x̄ = 25.9 × 6.6 μm, n = 50), overlapping uni-seriate, muriform, ellipsoidal to subfusiform, slightly curved, upper part wider than the lower part, 6–7 transversely septate, with 1 vertical septum, deeply constricted at the central septum, initially hyaline, becoming golden-brown at maturity, ends remaining cone-shaped, with rounded ends, without a mucilaginous sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics: Colonies on MEA, reaching 1.5 cm diam. after 30 days at 18 °C, circular, smooth margin white at first, greenish-grey after 4 weeks, flat on the surface, without aerial mycelium, reverse blackish green. Hyphae septate, branched, hyaline, thin, smooth-walled.

Material examined: ITALY, Arezzo [AR] Province, Papiano, dead herbaceous branches of Cirsium sp. (Asteraceae), 13 June 2013, E. Camporesi (MFLU 16-0145, holotype); (isotype in BBH), ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 13-0615.

GenBank:

Notes: In this study of Hyde et al. (2016), the strain of MFLUCC 13-0615, groups with Dematiopleospora mariae (type strain of Dematiopleospora) with high bootstrap and Bayesian support. Dematiopleospora cirsii resembles D. mariae in having brown periphyses in the ostiole, a peridium comprising brown to dark brown cells of textura angularis and multi-septate ascospores, but differs in having immersed ascomata, ascospores with 7 transverse septa and much longer lower part than upper part, while D. mariae has superficial ascomata, ascospores with 9–10 transverse septa, and upper and lower parts of equal length.