Soil Ascomycetes from Spain. XII. Ascotricha canariensis sp. nov

Mycologia ISSN: 0027-5514 (Print) 1557-2536 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/umyc20 Soil ascomycetes from Spain. XII. Ascotricha canariensis sp. nov. Alberto M. Stchigel, Josep Guarro, Dania García Sánchez & Begoña Acosta Hernández To cite this article: Alberto M. Stchigel, Josep Guarro, Dania García Sánchez & Begoña Acosta Hernández (2000) Soil ascomycetes from Spain. XII. Ascotricha�canariensis sp. nov., Mycologia, 92:4, 805-809, DOI: 10.1080/00275514.2000.12061222 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2000.12061222 Published online: 04 Jun 2019. Submit your article to this journal View related articles Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=umyc20 Mycologia, 92(4), 2000, pp. 805-809. © 2000 by The Mycological Society of America, Lawrence, KS 66044-8897 Soil ascomycetes from Spain. XII. Ascotricha canariensis sp. nov. Alberto M. Stchigel 1 Josep Guarro sealed with a rubber band and labelled. On returning to the laboratory soil was stored at 4-7 C until used. Approx 1 g of the sample was treated with 60% (v/v) ethyl alcohol for 10 min (after Warcup and Baker 1963). The supernatant was discarded and the solid phase was suspended in 10 mL of distilled water. The suspensions were cultured on potato carrot agar (PCA) with chloramphenicol (50 mg/L) at room temperature (22-25 C) under 12 h of darkness alternating with 12 h of cool white fluorescent light. The morphological characteristics of the colonies were studied on malt extract agar (MEA; Difco), oat meal agar (OMA; Difco), PCA, and potato dextrose agar (PDA, Difco) at 10, 15, room temperature (22-25), 37 and 42 C, under 12 h of darkness alternating with 12 h of cool white fluorescent light. Color notations in parentheses are from Kornerup and Wanscher (1984). The measurements of the fungal structures were taken in water or lactophenol. Photomicrographs were obtained with a Leitz Dialux 20 EB microscope. Scanning electron microscopy techniques were described previously by Figueras and Guarro (1988). Unitat de Microbiologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciencies de la Salut & /nstitut d'Estudis Avanc;ats, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, C/Sant Llorenc;, 21, 43201 Reus, Spain Dania Garcia Sanchez Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical "Alejandro Humboldt, " C/ 1 esq. 2, Santiago de las l-egas, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba Begoiia Acosta Hernandez Departamento de Patologia Animal, Producci6n Animal, Bromatologia y Tecnologia de los Alimentos, Facultad de Veterinaria de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain Abstract: Ascotricha canariensis sp. nov. (Xylariaceae, Ascomycetes) isolated from soil of the Canary Islands is described and illustrated. It belongs to the group of Ascotricha species with cylindrical asci and is differentiated from the other species by bearing ascomata with short, single or once-branched setae and by the presumed absence of an anamorph. Key Words: Ascomycota, soil fungi, Xylariales Ascotricha canariensis Stchigel, D. Garcia et Guarro, sp. nov. FIGs. 1-9 Mycelium ex hyphis subhyalinis vel brunneis, ramosis, septatis, levibus vel tuberculatis, 1-6 11m diam composito. Coloniae in agaro cum decocto tuberorum et carotarum "PCA" restrictae, planae, tenues, ex mycelio vegetativo submerso, subhyalinae vel brunneae; reversum olivaceo-brunneo vel nigrum. Ascomata superficialia vel immersa, ostiolata, translucida, olivaceo-brunnea vel atro-brunnea, subglobosa vel globosa, 160-180 x 140-160 IJ.m, apex cum collo brevi, 12-25 11m alta, 25-40 11m lata, pilosa. Pili rigidiusculi, non ramosi vel 1-ramosi, verrucosi, septati, atrobrunnei, 15-45 11m longi, 3-5 11m diam ad basim, cum vesicula hyalina et globosa vel piriformia, laevia, 3-5 11m diam, ad apicem formanti. Peridium parum olivaceo-brunneum vel brunneum, tenue, ex textura epidermoidea vel intricata, 4-6 stratiorum compositum, 10-15 11m crassitunicatum. Asci 47-54 X 5-7 !J.m, lineari-cylindrici, stipitati, cum muris tenuibus, deliquescenti, octospori. Paraphyses ovoideae vel nullae. Ascosporae 6-8 X 4.5-6 X 2-4 ~J.m, ellipsoideae, oblatae, atro-brunneae, laeves, fissura germinali aequatoriale paratae, uniseriatae. Status conidialis nullis. During the course of a study of soil ascomycetes from Spain, an interesting species of Ascotricha Berk. was isolated from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, located near the African continent in the Atlantic Ocean. Its origin is volcanic and it has a surface area of 100.55 km 2 • The terrain is basically basaltic, and the vegetation is mainly composed of Phoenix spp., some Cactaceae, and numerous members of the Poaceae. The area has a Mediterranean climate. The average summer temperature is 22 C, ranging 17-25 C. The mean annual precipitation is 150-200 mm. The morphological characteristics differentiate this taxon from all previously described species in the genus (Hawksworth 1971, Udagawa et al 1994a, b, Stchigel and Guarro 1998, Udagawa and Uchiyama 1999) and is thus described here as new. Mycelial hyphae subhyaline to brown, branched, septate, smooth to tuberculate, 1-6 1-1m diam. Colonies on PCA growing slowly, attaining 17-20 mm diam in 14 d at room temperature, olive brown (M. 4F5) to blackish, flat, thin, powdery to granulose, consisting of submerged mycelium and sparse aerial hyphae, producing abundant ascomata; reverse olive Materials and methods.-Soil was mainly collected from the Ao horizon with sterilized polyethylene bags. These were Accepted for publication February 28, 2000. 1 Email: ams@astor.urv.es 805 Published online 04 Jun 2019 806 MYCOLOGIA FIGS. 1-6. Ascotricha canariensis. 1. Ascoma. 2. Detail of the peridium. 3. Simple and branched setae. 4. Asci and ascospores. 5. Asci and ascospores; ascospore showing the germ slit (arrow). 6. Ascospores (SEM). Bars: 1 = 50 f.Lm; 2-6 = 10 f.Lm. 807 STCHIGEL ET AL: NEW ASCOTRICHA SPECIES FIGS. 7-9. Ascotricha canariensis. 7. Ascoma. 8. Ascus with ascospores. 9. Ascospores. Bars: 7 = 25 JLm; 8, 9 = 10 JLID. 808 MYCOLOGIA brown (M. 4F5) to blackish; ascomal initials coiled. Ascomata superficial to immersed, scattered to grouped, ostiolate, subglobose to globose, translucent, olive-brown to dark brown, 160-180 X 140-160 JJ.m, sometimes with a short beak 12-25 X 25-40 JJ.m. Setae stiff, simple or bifurcate at the middle, 2-3 septate, verrucose and dark brown at the base, becoming smooth and hyaline at the apex, 15-45 JJ.m long, 35 JJ.m diam at the base, thin-walled, terminated by a hyaline, globose to pyriform, smooth-walled vesicle, 2.4-4 JJ.m diam. Peridium 4-6 layered, 10-15 JJ.m thick, pale olivaceous-brown to brown, textura epidermoidea to intricata in surface view. Asci 47-54 X 57JJ.m, spore-bearing part 35-48 JJ.m long, cylindrical, short stipitate, thin-walled, evanescent, fasciculate, 8spored, without apical structures. Paraphyses not observed. Ascospores 6-8 X 4.5-6 X 2-4 JJ.m, ovoid to ellipsoidal in front view, oblate, dark brown, smoothwalled, with an equatorial germ slit on the narrow side, uniseriate. Anamorph not observed. On OMA at room temperature, colonies attaining 20-22 mm diam in 14 d, similar to those on PCA but strongly zonate. On MEA at room temperature, colonies attaining 15-16 mm diam in 14 d, raised, cottony, white; exudate absent; soluble pigment orange; reverse orange (4B6). Ascomata not formed. On PDA at room temperature, colonies attaining 19-21 mm diam in 14 d, similar to those on MEA but without a soluble pigment and reverse whitish. Ascomata not formed. On PCA, OMA, MEA and PDA at 15 and 37 C, growing very slowly, attaining 3-4 mm diam in 14 d, raised, hairy, white. Ascomata not produced. No growth was observed at 10 and 42 C. Specimens examined. SPAIN. GRAN CANARIA: La Laguna (28° 9' N, 15° 25' W), from soil, 22-VIII-1998, col. B. Acosta, isol. A. M. Stchigel (HOLOTYPE IMI 381334, ISOTYPE FMR 6738). Living cultures ex type: CBS 102197, FMR 6738, IMI 381334. Discussion.-The genus Ascotricha encompasses 13 species (Ames 1951, Hawksworth 1971, Kulshreshtha et al 1977, Stchigel and Guarro 1998, Udagawa et al 1994a, b, Udagawa and Uchiyama 1999), characterized by ostiolate or nonostiolate setose ascomata with translucent peridial wall, 8-spored asci, brown ellipsoidal ascospores with an equatorial germ slit, and anamorphs belonging to Dicyma Boulanger or to the Geniculosporium-Nodulisporium complex. Ascotricha spp. are generally found on cellulosic substrates (Ames 1951, Hawksworth 1971, Calviello 1978), dung (Hawksworth 1971, Kahn and Cain 1977) and soil (Hawksworth 1971, Horie et al 1993, Stchigel and Guarro 1998, Udagawa et al 1994a, b). The genus Ascotricha, morphologically very close to Chaetomium Kuntze, was erected by Berkeley (1838) for A. char- tarum Berk. Hawksworth (1971), in an extensive review of the genus, considered it included in the Chaetomiaceae of the order Sphaeriales although some similarities with members of the Coniochaetaceae were later noticed (Hawksworth and Wells 1973). Khan and Cain (1977) considered Ascotricha as phylogenetically distant from Chaetomium and related genera, and placed it in the Xylariaceae. Laess0e (1994) considered Ascotricha and the closely placed Ascotrichella Valldosera & Guarro (Valldosera and Guarro 1988) as genera incertae sedis due mainly to the nonstromatic nature of their ascomata, which differentiated them from the other genera of the Xylariaceae. Ascotricha was recently included in the Xylariaceae (Hawksworth et al 1995, Eriksson and Hawksworth 1998), and this view has been substantiated by Lee and Hanlin (1999) on the basis of ISS rDNA sequence analyses. Ascotricha canariensis belongs to the group of species with cylindrical asci which includes A. amesii Hawksworth, A. amphitricha (Corda) S.]. Hughes, A. bosei Hawksworth, A. chartarum Berk., A. delhiana Kulshreshtha, Raychardhuri & Khan, A. erinacea Zambett., A. guamensis Ames, A. hispanica Stchigel & Guarro, A. lusitanica Kenn. and A. xylina Ames. It can be easily differentiated from all previously described species (with the exception of A. hispanica) mainly by the setal morphology and by the presumed absence of an anamorph. Ascotricha hispanica also has short and simple ascomal setae and lacks an anamorph, but differs from A. canariensis by its longer (30-100 X 3-5 JJ.m) setae with a more elaborate branching pattern (sub-dichotomous and onceto twice-branched) and by its smaller ascospores (4.5-7 X 3-4 X 3-4 JJ.m). Acknowledgements.-This work was supported by a grant from the Fundaci6 Ciencia i Salut, Reus, Spain. The authors are indebted to to Dr. E. Descals for helpful comments. 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