Cladosporium menglunense L. H. Zhu, Lin Zhou & D. W. Li, 2025

Cladosporium menglunense L. H. Zhu, Lin Zhou & D. W. Li sp. nov.

Fig. 3 View Figure 3

Type.

China • Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Mengla County, Menglun Town, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden ( 21°55'0.12"N, 101°15'E), isolated from dead leaves of Ptychosperma sp. , Nov. 2024, L. H. Zhu & D. W. Li. Holotype specimen CFCC 72680 is a living specimen being maintained via lyophilization at the China Forestry Culture Collection Center ( CFCC) GoogleMaps . Ex-type (= Psp 2-7 a 2) is maintained at the Forest Pathology Laboratory, Nanjing Forestry University.

Etymology.

The term ‘ menglunense ’ indicates that this species was collected from Menglun Town.

Description.

Asexual morph on PDA: Mycelium immersed, composed of septate, branched, pale brown hyphae, 1.7–5.4 μm wide, local swelling, with the widest up to 6.5 μm. Conidiophores macronematous and micronematous, arising laterally or terminally from hyphae, septate, erect to slightly flexuous, non-nodulose, branched, up to 100 μm long, pale brown, verruculose. Conidiogenous cells integrated, terminal and intercalary, cylindrical to subcylindrical, bearing up to three protuberant, slightly darkened, and refractive conidiogenous loci. Ramoconidia 0 (– 2) septate, subcylindrical to ellipsoidal, sometimes calabash-like constricted at the center, (9.5 –) 9.9–21.8 (– 23.2) × (3.0 –) 3.0–4.3 (– 4.4) μm (mean ± SD = 14.5 ± 3.2 × 3.6 ± 0.4 um, n = 50), pale brown, smooth. Conidia forming branched chains, with up to 4 conidia in the terminal unbranched part, sometimes with a long neck between conidia, aseptate, pale brown, smooth to verruculose, with protuberant scars, slightly darkened, subglobose to globose, (2.9 –) 3.2–5.2 (– 5.2) × (2.6 –) 3.0–3.8 (– 4.2) μm (mean ± SD = 4.1 ± 0.6 × 3.3 ± 0.3 μm, n = 40). Sexual morph not observed.

Cultural characters.

Colonies on PDA 2.4–3.1 cm diam after 7 days at 25 ° C, yellowish-brown to olive, reverse atrovirens, floccose, velvety, crateriform, radially furrowed, wrinkled, usually significantly wrinkled at the margin; margin pale yellow edge; aerial mycelia abundantly formed, dense, with few exudates, powdery sporulation profuse.

Additional strains examined.

China • Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Mengla County, Menglun Town, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden ( 21°55'0.12"N, 101°15'E), on dead leaves of Ptychosperma sp. , Nov. 2024, L. H. Zhu & D. W. Li, Psp 2-7 a 3 ( CFCC 72682 ), Psp 2-7 a 4 ( CFCC 72683 ) GoogleMaps .

Notes.

Phylogenetically, Cladosporium menglunense nested in the C. sphaerospermum complex clade based on the ITS + ACT + TEF sequence data and was related to C. velox (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). However, there was a 19 bp difference in the TEF gene fragment between C. menglunense and C. velox , with a similarity of 92.94 %. Morphologically, C. menglunense can be easily distinguished from C. velox by its longer and wider conidia (3.2–5.2 × 3.0–3.8 μm vs. 2.5–4 × 2–2.5 μm). Furthermore, the ramoconidia of C. menglunense are smooth and can have up to 2 septa, whereas the ramoconidia of C. velox are either smooth or finely verrucose, with 0–1 septum. In addition, C. velox was isolated from Bambusa sp. ( Poaceae ), while C. menglunense was isolated from Arecaceae plants ( Bensch et al. 2012).