Populocrescentia
Populocrescentia Wanas., E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde, in Ariyawansa et al., Fungal Diversity: 10.1007/s13225-015-0346-5, [85] (2015)
Index Fungorum number: IF 551411; Facesofungi number: FoF 00952
Etymology: from the Latin crescit, meaning growing on, referring to its ecological habit, growing on Populus refers to the host genus from which the taxon was collected.
Saprobic on dead herbaceous branches in terrestrial habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata solitary, scattered, immersed to semi-erumpent, globose or subglobose, dark brown to black, coriaceous, cupulate when dry, ostiolate. Ostiole papillate, black, smooth, ostiolar canal filled with sparse periphyses. Peridium comprising 6–8 layers, outer part heavily pigmented, thick-walled, comprising blackish to dark brown cells of textura angularis, inner part composed of hyaline, thin-walled cells of textura angularis. Hamathecium comprising 2–3 μm wide, filamentous, branched septate, cellular pseudoparaphyses. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to cylindricclavate, short pedicellate, rounded and thick-walled at the apex, with a minute ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping 1–2-seriate, initially hyaline, becoming yellowish brown at maturity, broad fusiform, muriform, deeply constricted at the middle septum, slightly constricted at the remaining septa. Asexual morph: Undetermined.
Type species: Populocrescentia forlicesenensis Wanas., Camporesi, E.B.G. Jones & K.D. Hyde 2015
Notes: Populocrescentia is introduced as a new genus in the family Phaeosphaeriaceae with P. forlicesenensis as the type species. Both morphology and phylogeny indicate this is a distinct genus from Dematiopleospora and Allophaeosphaeria (Wanasinghe et al. 2014, Liu et al. 2015). Allophaeosphaeria differs from Populocrescentia in its peridium structure and papillate ostioles. Populocrescentia shares most similarities with Dematiopleospora in having flat, cupulate, globose to subglobose ascomata, a minute papilla, cylindrical asci and muriform ascospores. Dematiopleospora however, differs from Populocrescentia in having a wide, brown, periphysate ostiole, subfusiform ascospores with the upper part widest and light end cells. This is also phylogenetically supported as Populocrescentia forlicesenensis forms a distant clade from these taxa (Ariyawansa et al. 2015).
References:
Ariyawansa HA, Hyde KD, Jayasiri SC, Buyck B et al. 2015 – Fungal diversity notes 111–252-taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa. Fungal diversity: an international journal of mycology 75, 27–4.
Liu JK, Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Ariyawansa HA et al. 2015 – Fungal diversity notes 1–110: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal species. Fungal Diversity 72, 1–197.
Wanansinghe DN, Jones EBG, Camporesi E, Boonmee S et al. 2014 – An Exciting Novel Member of Lentitheciaceae in Italy from Clematis Vitalba. Cryptogamie Mycologie 35, 323–337.