Dicephalospora menghaica L. Luo & K. D. Hyde, 2025

Dicephalospora menghaica L. Luo & K. D. Hyde sp. nov.

Fig. 4 View Figure 4

Etymology.

The epithet “ menghaica ” refers to the collection site, Menghai County, where the holotype specimen was collected.

Holotype.

HKAS 135692 View Materials .

Description.

Saprobic on a dead leaf. Sexual morph: Apothecia 1–1.6 mm diam. when dry, arising solitary, uniseriate on petiole of leaves. Stipe 0.6–1 mm height and light brown to brown at the base. Receptacle orange and cupulate. Margins smooth and yellow when fresh. Disc slightly sunken and light yellow. Ectal excipulum 21–37 µm (x ̄ = 28 µm, n = 60), multi-layered, thin-walled, with hyaline to light yellow cells of textura porrecta. Medullary excipulum 24–50 µm (x ̄ = 41 µm, n = 60), composed of thin-walled, hyaline to yellowish, gelatinized cells of textura intricata to globulosa, small cells condensed. Hymenium 83–166 µm (x ̄ = 122 µm, n = 60), hyaline to yellowish and inner mixed with asci and paraphyses. Paraphyses 0.8–2.1 µm wide (x ̄ = 1.2 µm, n = 60), at the terminal cell, filiform, numerous, and have lengths exceeding the asci, smooth, branched, aseptate, slightly swollen, small, and globose at the apex. Asci (79 –) 82–125 (130 –) × 6.5–11.6 µm (x ̄ = 101 × 9.4 µm, n = 50), 8 - spored, unitunicate, cylindrical, and clavate, with the amyloid (J +) having a rounded apex, tapered, long stipitate base. Ascospores (16 –) 18–24 (26 –) × 2–3.7 µm (x ̄ = 22 × 2.9 µm, n = 60), uniseriate to biseriate, fusoid-clavate with rounded ends, 7 - septate, narrowed ends capped with pigments. Asexual morph: Not observed.

Material examined.

China • Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna City , Menghai County, altitude 1595 m, on the decayed unidentified leaves, 8 September 2022, Le Luo, ly 958 ( HKAS 135692 View Materials , holotype) ; • ibid., ly 972 ( HKAS 135690 View Materials , paratype) .

Notes.

Dicephalospora menghaica clustered with D. maetaengica by 100 % MLBS and 1.00 BIPP support (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ), and clustered sister to D. albolutea with 98 % MLBS and 1.00 BIPP support (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). Dicephalospora menghaica differs from D. albolutea by having smaller (1–1.6 mm vs. 1–2.5 mm), light brown apothecia, slightly hyaline to light yellow at the base with branched, aseptate paraphyses, shorter asci (82–125 × 6.5–11.6 µm vs. 140–156 × 9.5–10.5 µm) and smaller ascospores (18–24 × 2–3.7 µm vs. 26–31 × 3.8–5 µm), whereas D. albolutea has cream to yellowish-white apothecia, with unbranched, septate paraphyses ( Zheng and Zhuang 2019). Dicephalospora menghaica also differs morphologically from D. maetaengica as discussed previously under the notes of D. maetaengica . Therefore, based on the morphological and phylogenetic analysis, D. menghaica is introduced here as a new species.