Ovipoculum album, a new anamorph with gelatinous cupulate bulbilliferous conidiomata from China and with affinities to the Auriculariales (Basidiomycota)

Exidia qinghaiensis, a new species from China

A novel, wood-inhabiting jelly fungus from China is described as a new species, Exidia qinghaiensis (Basidiomycota: Auriculariaceae). Phylogenetic analyses were based on sequences of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) and large subunit (nrLSU), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), and translation elongation factor 1-α (Tef1) regions. Sequences of the new taxon formed a sister group to Exidia thuretiana, a species known from Europe and Asia, and distant to sequences of Exidia repanda from Europe. Fruiting bodies are cushion-shaped to irregularly lobed and yellowish brown, basidiospores are hyaline, allantoid (averaging 12.7 × 3.4 μm; average length/width is 3.7), and the host is Betula. The new species also can be distinguished by nrITS, nrLSU, RPB2, and Tef1 sequences. Our multigene phylogeny supports an Exidia including Exidia japonica, type species of Tremellochaete, but defining generic limits in Auriculariaceae will require more extensive taxon sampling.

Integrating Different Lines of Evidence to Establish a Novel Ascomycete Genus and Family (Anastomitrabeculia, Anastomitrabeculiaceae) in Pleosporales

A novel genus, Anastomitrabeculia, is introduced herein for a distinct species, Anastomitrabeculia didymospora, collected as a saprobe on dead bamboo culms from a freshwater stream in Thailand. Anastomitrabeculia is distinct in its trabeculate pseudoparaphyses and ascospores with longitudinally striate wall ornamentation. A new family, Anastomitrabeculiaceae, is introduced to accommodate Anastomitrabeculia. Anastomitrabeculiaceae forms an independent lineage basal to Halojulellaceae in Pleosporales and it is closely related to Neohendersoniaceae based on phylogenetic analyses of a combined LSU, SSU and TEF1α dataset. In addition, divergence time estimates provide further support for the establishment of Anastomitrabeculiaceae. The family diverged around 84 million years ago (MYA) during the Cretaceous period, which supports the establishment of the new family. The crown and stem age of Anastomitrabeculiaceae was also compared to morphologically similar pleosporalean families.

Studies in the Stypella vermiformis group (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota)

Stypella vermiformis is a heterobasidiomycete producing minute gelatinous basidiocarps on rotten wood of conifers in the Northern Hemisphere. In the current literature, Stypella papillata, the genus type of Stypella (described from Brazil), is treated as a taxonomic synonym of S. vermiformis. In the present paper, we revise the type material of S. papillata and a number of specimens addressed to S. vermiformis. As a result, the presumed synonymy of S. papillata and S. vermiformis is rejected and the genus Stypella is restricted to the single species S. papillata. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies of specimens from the Northern Hemisphere corresponding to the current concept of S. vermiformis uncovered three species from two newly described genera. S. vermiformis s.str. is distributed in temperate Europe and has small-sized basidia and basidiospores, and it is placed in a new genus, Mycostilla. Another genus, Stypellopsis, is created for two other species, the North American Stypellopsis farlowii, comb. nov., and the North European Stypellopsis hyperborea, sp. nov. Basidia and basidiospores of Stypellopsis spp. are larger than in Mycostilla vermiformis but other morphological characters are very similar. In addition, Spiculogloea minuta (Spiculogloeomycetes, Pucciniomycotina) is reported as new to Norway, parasitising basidiocarps of M. vermiformis and Tulasnella spp.

Molecular and morphological evidence reveal a new genus and species in Auriculariales from tropical China

Grammatus labyrinthinus gen. et sp. nov. is proposed based on DNA sequences data and morphological characteristics. It is known so far from southern, tropical China. The new species is characterised by an annual, resupinate basidiocarp with a shallow, subporoid hymenophore, a hymenium restricted to the bottom of the tubes, a dimitic hyphal system, presence of encrusted skeletocystidia and dendrohyphidia, longitudinally septate basidia and smooth, oblong-ellipsoid to cylindrical, acyanophilous basidiospores. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS + nLSU DNA sequences data indicate that G. labyrinthinus belongs to Auriculariaceae in which it has an isolated position. Phylogenetic inferences show G. labyrinthinus to be related to Heteroradulum. However, the ITS sequences similarity between G. labyrinthinus and H. kmetii, the type species of Heteroradulum, were 89.84% and support the establishment of the new genus. Inversely, Heteroradulum semis clustered with G. labyrinthinus with strong support and it is transferred to Grammatus.

Combined molecular and morphological data for improving phylogenetic hypothesis in Dacrymycetes

We analyzed the DNA sequences of four gene regions, 28S and 18S rDNA, the ITS region and rpb2, to obtain a high resolution phylogenetic tree of Dacrymycetes. In addition, we comparatively studied micro- and macromorphological characteristics of representative species. The traditional generic classification based on morphological characteristics was not reflected by our molecular phylogenies. Ancestral state reconstructions indicated that the morphology of basidia and clamp connections are evolutionarily stable. In contrast, basidiocarps and basidiospore septation patterns appear variable. Dacrymyces unisporus shares the dolipores with non-perforate parenthesomes typical of other dacrymycetous taxa but is a unique species having predominantly non-bifurcate basidia and subglobose to ovoid basidiospores with transverse and longitudinal septa. In molecular phylogenies this species is a member of Dacrymycetes but always occupies a sister position in relation to the rest of the Dacrymycetes. Based on our results we propose a new genus, Unilacryma, for D. unisporus. For proper accommodation of this taxon, we introduce the family Unilacrymaceae and the order Unilacrymales.