Spegazzinia cryptica Liang T. Lu, R. Sugita, Mis. Sato, Kaz. Tanaka & R. Kirschner, 2024

Spegazzinia cryptica Liang T. Lu, R. Sugita, Mis. Sato, Kaz. Tanaka & R. Kirschner , sp. nov. ( Figs 3–4 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 )

Index Fungorum number: IF902147

Etymology:— Epithet refers to the cryptic species concept, because the species is morphologically indistinguishable from S. musae .

Holotype:— L.- T. Lu, C.- C. Chien, R. Kirschner & Y.- W. Yeh LV0167 ( TNM)

Description (based on holotype): Saprobic on leaf of Carex pumila ( Cyperaceae ). Sexual morph: Not observed. Asexual morph: Colonies superficial, black, oblong to circular, ca. 0.5–1 mm long. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells, densely aggregated, brown to dark brown (those giving rise to the stalks of α conidia darker), subglobose, smooth-walled, ca. 4.5–7 × 4–5 µm. Conidia of two types: α conidia composed of 4–6 spinose dark brown cells (up to 8 spinose cells visible after bleaching), conidial body (11–)13.5–18(–20) µm (n = 30) diam. excluding spines, with dark brown spines up to 6 µm long, conidial stalk dark brown, sometimes pale brown at base, slightly verruculose to verrucose, up to 155 µm long, ca. 2.5 µm wide, widening up to 7.5 µm before terminating into spinose conidial body; β conidia disc-shaped, dark brown, cross-septate, 4-celled, each cell with slightly concave outermost cell wall in front view, smooth-walled, with 1–3 greenish major guttules per cell after bleaching, conidial body (10.5–)12–13(–13.5) × (10–)11–13(–13.5) µm (n = 30), 6–7.5(–8.5) × (10–)11.5–14(–15) µm (n = 19) when seen from the side, conidial stalk subhyaline to pale brown, up to 6 µm long, ca. 2.5 µm wide.

Culture characteristics:— Colonies on PDA almost filling 90 mm diam. Petri dish after 3 weeks at 25 ° C in the dark. Colony in upper view circular with entire edge, flat, surface slightly rough, with concentric rings near margin, center olive brown (oac832) to greenish brown (oac866), outer most margin creamy white (oac816); in reverse view center dark brown (oac733), outer most margin creamy white (oac816); no sporulation.

Material examined:— TAIWAN. New Taipei City: Gongliao District, Longmen Beach (25.0270 N, 121.9378 E), on dead leaves of Carex pumila Thunb. ( Cyperaceae ), 26 December 2022, L.- T. Lu, C.- C. Chien, R. Kirschner & Y.- W. Yeh, LV 0167 ( TNM, holotype; ex-type strain BCRC FU 31884). JAPAN. Tokyo: Ogasawara, Isl. Chichijima, Ogasawara Subtropical Agriculture Center, on leaves of Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf ( Poaceae ), 9 September 2013, K. Tanaka, M. Sato, A. Hashimoto, and T. Sato, KT 3323 ( HHUF 30271, living strain MAFF 244519; originally identified as Spegazzinia tessarthra, Tanaka et al. 2017 ). JAPAN. Okinawa: Isl. Yonaguni, near Mt. Inbi, on stems of bamboo ( Poaceae ), 24 November 2008, K. Tanaka & K. Hirayama, yone 279 ( HHUF 30152, living strain MAFF 243878).

Diagnostic bases:— Within the sequences of S. cryptica and S. musae there are eight and 14 diagnostic bases distributed in the ITS and TEF alignment, respectively (Tables 2, 3 and Electronic Supplementary Material 3, 4), in the ITS alignment having transitions A ↔ C at position 58; A ↔ G at position 296; A ↔ T at position 344,; C ↔ G at position 89; C ↔ T at positions 33, 75 and 88; and G ↔ T at position 360; in the TEF alignment A ↔ T at position 299; C ↔ T at positions 205, 226, 247, 280, 310, 463, 484, 514, 616, 688, 697 and 796; G ↔ T at position 250 in the TEF alignment. The alignment of the LSU sequences is not shown because there are more intraspecific differences (one base in S. cryptica and three bases in S. musae ) than interspecific difference (one base).

Known substrates and geographical distribution:— Dead leaves and stems of Poales ( Cyperaceae , Poaceae ); islands in the western Pacific monsoon region.

Additional material examined:— Spegazzinia deightonii (S. Hughes) Subram. , TAIWAN. New Taipei City: Gongliao District, Longmen Beach (25.0270 N, 121.9378 E), on dead leaves of Carex pumila , 26 December 2022, L.- T. Lu, C.- C. Chien, R. Kirschner, & Y.- W. Yeh, LV 0169 ( TNM, living culture BCRC FU 31883).