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

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

Fig. 7 View Figure 7

Etymology.

Referring to the country, China, 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 0408 (holotype), ex-type, WD 04081 GoogleMaps .

Description.

Colonies on PDA reaching 37–38 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, 1.5–1.9 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 three. Conidiogenous cells 7.0–12.0 × 1.0–1.5 μm, with a cylindrical basal portion, bearing numerous denticles, tapering into a distinct neck. Conidia hyaline, ellipsoidal to fusiform, 1 - celled, 2.4–3.9 × 1.5–2.8 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 04082 (living culture) GoogleMaps .

Remarks.

The new strains were identified as a member in Gamszarella , based on the BLASTn result in NCBI. The phylogenetic analyses of the combined dataset 2 (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ) showed that the new strains clustered as an independent clade with a close relationship to Gamszarella antillana (R. F. Castañeda & G. R. W. Arnold) Crous and G. buffelskloofina Crous. Compared with the typical characteristics of the known species (Table 3 View Table 3 ), the new taxon, Gamszarella sinensis was distinguished from G. antillana by its shorter conidiogenous cells bearing numerous denticles (Numerous denticles, 7.0–12.0 × 1.0–1.5 μm vs. absent of denticles, 18–31 × 1 μm), ellipsoidal to fusiform conidia and absent of octahedral crystals. Gamszarella sinensis was distinguished from G. buffelskloofina by its shorter conidiogenous cells (7.0–12.0 × 1.0–1.5 μm vs. 7–22 × 1.5–2 μm), smaller ellipsoidal to fusiform conidia [2.4–3.9 × 1.5–2.8 μm vs. (3 –) 4–6 (– 10) × 2 μm] and spider host. Gamszarella sinensis was distinguished from G. vallensis by its longer conidiogenous cells (7.0–12.0 × 1.0–1.5 μm vs. 3.8–5.4 × 1.3–1.9 μm). Thus, the morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic results support G. sinensis as a new species.