Beltraniella xinglongensis W. W. Liu, C. Z. Yin, Z. X. Zhang & X. G. Zhang, 2025

Beltraniella xinglongensis W. W. Liu, C. Z. Yin, Z. X. Zhang & X. G. Zhang sp. nov.

Fig. 5 View Figure 5

Holotype.

China • Hainan Province, Wanning City, Xinglong tropical botanical garden , 18°43'59"N, 110°11'55"E, on decaying leaves, 24 April 2024, W. W. Liu, holotype HMAS 353196 View Materials , ex-type living culture SAUCC 737701 . GoogleMaps

Etymology.

The epithet “ xinglongensis ” refers to the name of the location, Xinglong tropical botanical garden where the holotype was collected.

Description.

Parasitic on decaying leaves. Asexual morph: Setae dark-brown, unbranched, tapering to a pointed apex, upright, single or in small groups, septate, straight or gently flexuous, emerging from radially lobed basal cells, 75.9–195.9 × 2.5–6.1 μm. Conidiophores septate, occasionally reduced to conidiogenous cells, smooth, swollen at the base, subhyaline to pale brown, present two distinct forms: long and short. Long conidiophores emerging from lobed basal cells, upright, straight or gently curved, simple or branched at apical regions, 13–15 septate, verrucose, swollen at the base, olivaceous to dark-brown, arising from basal cells of setae or from separate, 232.5–298.6 × 2.4–4.9 μm. Short conidiophores hyaline, septate, smooth, 21.2–47.8 × 3.2–6.4 μm. Conidiogenous cells ovoid, polyblastic, cylindrical, hyaline to subhyaline, integrated, denticulate, terminal, smooth, 6.5–9.7 × 2.8–5.4 μm. Separating cells fusiform, ellipsoid to subglobose, smooth, 13.6–17.6 × 2.3–5.4 μm. Conidia originate directly from the conidiogenous cells in the long conidiophores and from the separating cells in the short ones, teardrop-shaped, narrow-tipped, aggregated, terminal, simple, dry, straight, hyaline, smooth and integrated, without a hyaline transverse band, 21.9–28.7 × 5.0–9.5 μm. Sexual morph: Inconclusive.

Culture characteristics.

On PDA medium, after seven days of dark incubation in a 25 ° C incubator, colonies reached a diameter of 90 mm with a growth rate of 12.5–13.1 mm / day. Colonies on PDA raised, cottony, white, flatter, with gray exudates, sparse aerial mycelia, undulate margin; reverse white, with an undulate margin, abundant gray exudates.

Additional material studied.

China • Hainan Province, Wanning City, Xinglong tropical botanical garden , 18°43'59"N, 110°11'55"E, on decaying leaves, 24 April 2024, W. W. Liu, HSAUP 737701 , living culture SAUCC 737701 GoogleMaps .

Notes.

Based on the phylogenetic tree constructed with ITS and LSU sequence, Beltraniella dujiangyanensis was the closest relative to B. xinglongensis , with a gap of 16 / 502 bp between their comparative ITS sequences. Morphologically, B. xinglongensis differed from B. dujiangyanensis in having longer long conidiophores ( B. xinglongensis : 232.5–298.6 × 2.4–4.9 μm vs. B. dujiangyanensis : 113.1–259.9 × 3.1–5.8 μm) and more septa ( B. xinglongensis : 13–15 septa vs. B. dujiangyanensis : 9–10 septa), longer in short conidiophores ( B. xinglongensis : 21.2–47.8 × 3.2–6.4 μm vs. B. dujiangyanensis : 13.1–31.9 × 3.2–5.7 μm), longer separating cells ( B. xinglongensis : 13.6–17.6 × 2.3–5.4 μm vs. B. dujiangyanensis : 9.7–12.3 × 3.1–5.3 μm) and longer conidia ( B. xinglongensis : 21.9–28.7 × 5.0–9.5 μm vs. B. dujiangyanensis : 16.5–21.1 μm). Consequently, B. xinglongensis was identified as a new Beltraniella species through phylogenetic analysis and morphological comparison