Gamszarella vallensis W. H. Chen, Y. F. Han & J. D. Liang, 2025

Gamszarella vallensis W. H. Chen, Y. F. Han & J. D. Liang sp. nov.

Fig. 8 View Figure 8

Etymology.

Referring to its location, Bala Valley, where the fungus was first discovered.

Type.

China • Guizhou Province, Guiyang City, Wudang District, Bala Valley (26°45'7.0344"N, 106°58'57.09"E). On a dead spider ( Araneae ), 5 April 2024, Wanhao Chen, GZAC WD 0410 (holotype), ex-type, WD 04101 GoogleMaps .

Description.

Colonies on PDA reaching 25–36 mm diam in 14 d at 25 ° C, white, consisting of a basal felt and cottony, floccose overgrowth, reverse yellowish, with radial patterns. Prostrate hyphae smooth, septate, hyaline, 1.5–2.0 μm diam. Conidial structures consisting of erect conidiophores usually arising from the aerial hyphae, solitary or lecanicillium-like with conidiogenous cells in whorls of two to four. Conidiogenous cells 3.8–5.4 × 1.3–1.9 μm, with a cylindrical basal portion, bearing numerous denticles, tapering into a distinct neck. Conidia hyaline, ellipsoidal to fusiform, 1 - celled, 2.3–3.0 × 1.7–1.9 μm. Octahedral crystals not observed.

Host.

Spider ( Araneae ).

Additional material examined.

China • Guizhou Province, Guiyang City, Wudang District, Bala Valley (26°45'7.0344"N, 106°58'57.09"E). On a dead spider ( Araneae ), 5 April 2024, Wanhao Chen, WD 04102 (living culture) GoogleMaps .

Remarks.

Gamszarella vallensis was identified as in Gamszarella , based on the BLASTn results in NCBI. The phylogenetic analysis of the combined dataset 2 (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ) showed that the new strains clustered into an independent clade with a close relationship with Gamszarella antillana and G. buffelskloofina . Compared with the typical characteristics of the known species (Table 3 View Table 3 ), Gamszarella vallensis was distinguished from G. antillana by its shorter conidiogenous cells bearing numerous denticles (3.8–5.4 × 1.3–1.9 μm vs. 18–31 × 1 μm), ellipsoidal to fusiform conidia and absent of octahedral crystals. Gamszarella vallensis was distinguished from G. buffelskloofina by its shorter conidiogenous cells (3.8–5.4 × 1.3–1.9 μm vs. 7–22 × 1.5–2 μm), smaller ellipsoidal to fusiform conidia [2.3–3.0 × 1.7–1.9 μm vs. (3 –) 4–6 (– 10) × 2 μm] and spider host. Gamszarella vallensis was distinguished from G. sinensis by its shorter conidiogenous cells (3.8–5.4 × 1.3–1.9 μm vs. 7.0–12.0 × 1.0–1.5 μm). Thus, the morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic results support G. vallensis as a new species.