Calycina xishuangbanica L. Luo & K. D. Hyde, 2025

Calycina xishuangbanica L. Luo & K. D. Hyde sp. nov.

Fig. 3 View Figure 3

Etymology.

The epithet refers to the collection site “Xishuangbanna city” where the holotype specimen was collected.

Holotype.

HKAS 139494 View Materials .

Description.

Saprobic on dead bark. Sexual morph: Apothecia scattered to partly gregarious, superficial, 0.9–1.3 mm in diameter, 0.3–1.3 mm high when dry, discoid to cupulate, long stipitate, externally no hairs. Discs concave, surface smooth, white when fresh and yellow when dry. Margin flat to slightly involute, pale brown to yellow. Receptacle discoid to cupulate, pale brown to yellow. Stipe 0.15–0.35 mm in diameter, 0.2–0.8 mm long when dry, cylindrical, solitary, pale brown to yellow. Hymenium 74–111 µm (x – = 93 µm, n = 35), slightly raised, surface smooth, light brown to light yellow in dry. Medullary excipulum 20.5–49 µm (x – = 36 µm, n = 30), thin, hyaline to light brown, thin-walled cells of textura intricata to porrecta, 1.6–3.3 µm (x – = 2.5 µm, n = 50) in diameter. Ectal excipulum 27–63 µm (x – = 44 µm, n = 30) thick, thin-walled, smooth, hyaline cells of textura porrecta to textura globulosa, 1.9–4.8 µm (x = 3.2 µm, n = 60). Paraphyses 48–83 × 0.8–2.1 µm (x – = 60 × 1.4 µm, n = 35), shorter than asci, filiform, straight, aseptate, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, with slightly obtuse apex. Asci 60–90 × 4.6–8.8 µm (x – = 75 × 7.3 µm, n = 35), 8 - spored, unitunicate, clavate, straight to slightly curved, inoperculate, hyaline, wall apically thickened, laterally relatively thin, slightly smooth, with an apical, amyloid pore and tapered ends, J + in MLZ. Ascospores (85 / 6 / 2) 9.3–14.5 × 2.9–4.3 µm, (x = 12 × 3.6 µm, n = 86), partially biseriate, filiform, aseptate, thin-walled, hyaline, smooth with tapering towards the obtuse ends, occasionally 1–2 oil guttules, subspherical, hyaline, slightly smooth. Asexual morp h Not observed.

Material examined.

• China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna City , altitude 1787 m, on the decayed unknown twig, 5 September 2022, Le Luo, ly 729 ( HKAS 139494 View Materials , holotype) ; ibid., ly 751 ( HKAS 139495 View Materials , paratype) ;

Notes.

Calycina xishuangbanica ( HKAS 139494 and HKAS 139494 ) clustered with the clade comprising C. parvispora , C. papaeana and C. crassipes , with 99 % MLBP and 0.99 BPP support (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). Calycina xishuangbanica differs from C. papaeana in having longer asci (60–90 µm vs. 38–58 µm), longer ascospores (9.3–14.5 µm vs. 4–9 µm), and pale brown to yellow receptacle and stipe, in contrast to the dark brown to black receptacle and stipe of the latter ( Senanayake et al. 2023). Calycina parvispora is a saprobe found on dead plant material in Czechoslovakia and New Zealand ( Nag Raj and Hughes 1974; Nag Raj and Kendrick 1975). The species was initially introduced by Nag Raj and Hughes (1974) as Chalara parvispora , which was later transferred to Calycina ( Wu and Diao 2023) . Similarly, Calycina crassipes is a saprobe occurring on dead conifer wood and on the petiole of Pteridium aquilinum in Czechoslovakia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom ( Nag Raj and Kendrick 1971, 1975; Holubová-Jechová 1984). The species was originally introduced as Cylindrosporium crassipes ( Ploettnerulaceae , Helotiales ) and was later transferred to Calycina ( Wu and Diao 2023) . Calycina parvispora and C. crassipes are only reported in their asexual morphs ( Wu and Diao 2023); Calycina xishuangbanica phylogenetically differs from C. parvispora , C. papaeana , and C. crassipes based on the ITS gene region by 4.8 %, 7.1 %, and 4.1 % base pair differences, respectively. Based on the morphological characteristics along with the phylogenetic analyses, C. xishuangbanica is introduced here as a new species.