Taxonomic circumscription and phylogenetics of novel didymellaceous taxa with brown muriform spores

Abstract

Sexual morph of didymellaceous taxa are characterized by their ascomata with relatively thin peridium, cylindric-clavate to clavate, short-pedicellate or apedicellate asci, hyaline to brown, 1-septate to muriform ascospores. Its asexual morphs are coelomycetous and comprising pycnidial or acervulus conidiomata, phialidic, hyaline conidiogenous cells and hyaline or pale brown, septate or aseptate conidia. The majority of these cosmopolitan species are plant associated fungi which can be pathogens on a wide range of hosts and some species are of particular relevance for quarantine measures. Recent studies have significantly improved the taxonomy and systematics of didymellaceous taxa based on molecular phylogenetics. In contrast to the accurate and detailed studies on the asexual morphs which are common obligate pathogens, information on their usually saprobic sexual morphs is still limited. Among these phenotypically diverse species, spore characteristics are quite unique as most have hyaline spores with 0-1 septum, while only Neomicrosphaeropsis and Didymellocamarosporium are reported as producing pigmented, muriform spores. These dematiaceous muriform spores are characteristic of a considerable number of species that may be quite divergent in other characters. During taxonomic investigations on the diversity of didymellaceous taxa, we have isolated species from Alhagi pseudalhagi, Coronilla emerus, Cytisus sp., Elaeagnus angustifolia and Spartium junceum in Italy, Russia and Uzbekistan. A comprehensive phylogeny, based on four loci (ITS, LSU, rpb2 and tub2) is used to infer species relationships. Comprehensive morphological descriptions and in-depth phylogenetic investigations of five new species viz. Ascochyta coronillae-emeri, Microsphaeropsis spartii-juncei, Neomicrosphaeropsis alhagi-pseudalhagi, N. cytisicola and N. elaeagni are presented.

Fungal diversity notes 1036–1150: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

“…Notes: The family Didymellaceae was established to accommodate Didymella, Phoma and phoma-like genera and is one of the most species rich families in the fungal kingdom (Chen et al 2015, with 31 genera based on morphology and phylogeny (Chen et al 2015;Jayasiri et al 2017;Thambugala et al 2017a;Wanasinghe et al 2018b). Species of this family are distributed in a broad range of environments.…”

“…Most members are economically important plant pathogens causing leaf and stem spots and many are mentioned in quarantine regulations (Thambugala et al 2017bKnight et al 2018;Valenzuela-Lopez et al 2018). Limited studies have been carried out on the sexual morphs (Chen et al 2015;Thambugala et al 2017aWanasinghe et al 2018b). The taxonomic placements of this family were treated based on phylogenetic and morphological analyses (Chen et al 2015;Jayasiri et al 2017;Thambugala et al 2017a;Wanasinghe et al 2018b).…”

Species Diversity With Comprehensive Annotations of Wood-Inhabiting Poroid and Corticioid Fungi in Uzbekistan

“…Fungal names used in other regional floras have often been applied to fungi in Uzbekistan. However, the Uzbek fungi often represent new, unrelated species as was shown for Uzbekistan ascomycetous microfungi Gafforov, 2001, 2002;Gafforov and Hoshino, 2015;Gafforov, 2002Gafforov, , 2010Gafforov, , 2015Gafforov, , 2016aGafforov and Rakhimov, 2017;Gafforov et al, 2019;Wanasinghe et al, 2017Wanasinghe et al, , 2018aSamarakoon et al, 2018;Pem et al, 2018Pem et al, , 2019aHyde et al, 2019Hyde et al, , 2020Yuan et al, 2020). Basidiomycetous fungi have received even less attention than ascomycetous microfungi (Gafforov, 2014;Gafforov et al, 2014.…”

Additions to Italian Pleosporinae, including Italica heraclei sp. nov.

“… Alors et al 2016 , Skrede et al 2017 , Haelewaters and De Kesel 2020 ). In the last few years, a high number of microfungal taxa have been recorded in different Italian habitats ( Jensen et al 2010 , Rodolfi et al 2016 , Thambugala et al 2017 , Wanasinghe et al 2018a , Liu et al 2019 , Marin-Felix et al 2019 , Hyde et al 2020b ). Currently, a database ( https://italianmicrofungi.org/ ) for plant-associated Italian microfungi is being developed with past, present and upcoming studies being added.…”

“… Didymellaceae is another family in Pleosporales introduced by De Gruyter et al (2009) to accommodate Ascochyta , Didymella (type), Phoma and Phoma -like species ( Chen et al 2015 , Chen et al 2017 , Hongsanan et al 2020 ). It is a species-rich family containing numerous plant pathogenic, saprotrophic and endophytic species associated with a wide range of hosts ( Aveskamp et al 2008 , Aveskamp et al 2010 , Wanasinghe et al 2018a , Hou et al 2020 ). Species of Didymellaceae are cosmopolitan and have been reported from inorganic materials, water, air, soil and different environments, such as deep-sea sediments, deserts and karst caves ( Wanasinghe et al 2018a , Hongsanan et al 2020 , Hou et al 2020 ).…”