Jalapriya guttulata Y. Wang & Z. L. Luo, 2025

Jalapriya guttulata Y. Wang & Z. L. Luo sp. nov.

Fig. 6 View Figure 6

Etymology.

Referring to the guttulate cells of the conidia.

Holotype.

KUN-HKAS 135959.

Description.

Saprobic on submerged decaying wood. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies on natural substrate effuse, scattered, dark brown to black. Mycelium mostly immersed, partly superficial, composed of smooth, septate, branched, pale brown to brown, or pale orange. Conidiophores micronematous, unbranched, thin-walled, smooth, 3–4 μm wide. Conidiogenous cells holoblastic, integrated, terminal, pale brown to brown, or pale brown, thin-walled. Conidia 31–43 × 25–38 μm (x ̄ = 37.3 × 31.5 μm, n = 30) ( KUNCC 23-15861 ) or 34–41 × 30–37 μm (x ̄ = 37.5 × 33.7 μm, n = 30) ( KUNCC 23–14576 ), acrogenous, septate, distinctly constricted at septa, holoblastic, solitary or paired (Fig. 6 c View Figure 6 ), palmate, light olive-brown when immature and olive-brown to reddish-brown or pale brown, with some cells slightly darker in the center and lighter at the edges when mature. with 5–11 overlapping rows of unequal length and cells arranged in a plane, 1–2 outer rows arising from a basal cell, with additional rows arising from the base of the previous row, these rows are slightly curved inward, with each row consisting of 2–9 cells, with number of cells gradually decreasing from base to upward except for basal row of cells, with some cells in the uppermost row enlarged.

Culture characteristics.

Conidia germinating on PDA within 24 h and germ tubes produced at the basal cell and the apex of the conidium. Colonies grew on PDA at 22 ° C, circular, mycelium was loose, flocculent, on the obverse, at first white, later becoming light yellow. The reverse side is orange, with the center being the darkest.

Material examined.

China • Yunnan Province, Dulongjiang River , on submerged decaying wood, 2 May 2023, Fig. 6 a – f View Figure 6 : (Altitude: 1397 m, 27.702847°N, 98.349787°E), Ying Wang, S 4558 ( KUN-HKAS 135959 , holotype); ex-type culture, KUNCC 23-15861 GoogleMaps . Fig. 6 i – l View Figure 6 : (Altitude: 1702 m, 28.033444°N, 98.317358°E), Ying Wang, S 4587 ( KUN-HKAS 135948 ), living culture, KUNCC 23–14576 GoogleMaps .

Notes.

Six species are currently accepted in Jalapriya , among which J. inflata and J. toruloides have been reported from wood in marine habitats ( Goh et al. 1999; Kirschner et al. 2013; Tibell et al. 2020; Du et al. 2025). These two species were originally classified under Dictyosporium and were transferred to the genus Jalapriya by Boonmee et al. ( Boonmee et al. 2016). J. apicalivaginatum , J. aquaticum , and J. pulchra were found on submerged decaying wood in freshwater habitats, the first one from Henan province and the latter two from Yunnan province ( Boonmee et al. 2016; Fu et al. 2021). While J. cheirospora was found on dead stems of the medicinal plant Disporum longistylum in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China. In this study, we collected two morphologically similar strains ( KUNCC 23-15861 and KUNCC 23–14576 ) from submerged decaying wood. Despite the differences in conidial color (olive-brown to reddish-brown vs. pale brown to moderate brown) and size (37.3 × 31.5 μm vs. 37.5 × 33.7 μm), both strains share similar characteristics in culture and natural colonies, have guttulate conidia, and relatively few cells in the terminal cell row. Notably, no differences were found in the sequences of ITS and tef 1 - α gene regions between KUNCC 23-15861 and KUNCC 23–14576 . Which indicated that the two strains belong to the same species.

Based on the phylogenetic analyses of the combined ITS, LSU, and tef 1 - α sequence data, our new strains ( KUNCC 23-15861 and KUNCC 23-14576 ) clustered with J. toruloides ( CBS 209.65 ) with 99 % ML and 1.00 PP support (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). The ITS sequence of J. guttulata has a 2.7 % (14 / 518 bp) difference from J. toruloides ( CBS 209.65 ). But the LSU sequence has only one base pair (1 / 494 bp) difference from J. toruloides . Morphologically, J. guttulata has more conidial rows of cells (5–11 rows vs. 6–8 rows); the conidia of J. guttulata are shorter (37.3–37.5 μm vs. 38–56 μm) and wider (31.5–33.7 μm vs. 25–24 μm) than J. toruloides ; the rows of these two species are of unequal length, and the apical rows of the conidia in most J. guttulata have fewer cells ( Henningsson 1974; Goh et al. 1999). Notably, solitary or paired conidia of J. guttulata were observed for the first time in the genus Jalapriya . Based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis, we identify our isolates as a new species.