Stuck in time – a new Chaenothecopsis species with proliferating ascomata from Cunninghamia resin and its fossil ancestors in European amber
Hanna TuovilaAlexander R. SchmidtChristina BeimfordeHeinrich DörfeltHeinrich GrabenhorstJouko Rikkinen
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Abstract:
Resin protects wounded trees from microbial infection, but also provides a suitable substrate for the growth of highly specialized fungi. Chaenothecopsis proliferatus is described growing on resin of Cunninghamia lanceolata from Hunan Province, China. The new fungus is compared with extant species and two new fossil specimens from Eocene Baltic and Oligocene Bitterfeld ambers. The Oligocene fossil had produced proliferating ascomata identical to those of the newly described species and to other extant species of the same lineage. This morphology may represent an adaptation to growing near active resin flows: the proliferating ascomata can effectively rejuvenate if partially overrun by fresh, sticky exudate. Inward growth of fungal hyphae into resin has only been documented from Cenozoic amber fossils suggesting comparatively late occupation of resin as substrate by fungi. Still, resinicolous Chaenothecopsis species were already well adapted to their special ecological niche by the Eocene, and the morphology of these fungi has since remained remarkably constant.Keywords:
Cunninghamia
Ascocarp
Mycology
Lineage (genetic)
Fossil Record
The new species Chaenothecopsis nigripunctata (Mycocaliciaceae, Ascomycota) is described from western North America. The fungus grows on resin and wetwood of Tsuga heterophylla in moist temperate forests. It differs from its relatives in the regular production of polycephalic ascomata with contiguous capitula. The species is further characterized by a well-developed mazaedium. An unevenly thickened epithecium acts to compartmentalize the mazaedium into several columns per apothecial disk. Dark spore masses against the pale epithecium give the fungus a highly distinctive, elegant appearance. This species is not easily accommodated in Chaenothecopsis in a traditional sense but it is placed in this genus pending a better understanding of relationships within the Mycocaliciaceae.
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The order Melanosporales comprises a large group of ascomycetes, most of them mycoparasites, characterized by the production of usually ostiolate, translucent ascomata, unitunicate asci, and unicellular, pigmented ascospores with germ pores or germ slits. The most studied taxa are Melanospora and Sphaerodes , but the boundaries with other morphologically closely related genera are not well resolved. In this study, the taxonomy of Melanospora and related taxa have been re-evaluated based on the analysis of nuclear rDNA, actin and elongation factor genes sequences of fresh isolates and numerous type and reference strains. The genus Melanospora has been restricted to species with ostiolate ascoma whose neck is composed of intermixed hyphae, and with a phialidic asexual morph. Microthecium has been re-established for species of Melanospora and Sphaerodes without a typical ascomatal neck or, if present, being short and composed of angular cells similar to those of the ascomatal wall, and usually producing bulbils. Three new genera have been proposed: Dactylidispora , possessing ascospores with a raised rim surrounding both terminal germ pores; Echinusitheca , with densely setose, dark ascomata; and Pseudomicrothecium , characterized by ascospores with indistinct germ pores. Dichotomous keys to identify the accepted genera of the Melanosporales, and keys to discriminate among the species of Melanospora and Microthecium , as well as a brief description of the accepted species of both genera, are also provided.
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The new species Chaenothecopsis nigripunctata (Mycocaliciaceae, Ascomycota) is described from western North America. The fungus grows on resin and wetwood of Tsuga heterophylla in moist temperate forests. It differs from its relatives in the regular production of polycephalic ascomata with contiguous capitula. The species is further characterized by a well-developed mazaedium. An unevenly thickened epithecium acts to compartmentalize the mazaedium into several columns per apothecial disk. Dark spore masses against the pale epithecium give the fungus a highly distinctive, elegant appearance. This species is not easily accommodated in Chaenothecopsis in a traditional sense but it is placed in this genus pending a better understanding of relationships within the Mycocaliciaceae.
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Emericella pluriseminata sp. nov. (Eurotiales, Ascomycota), isolated from Indian soil, is described and illustrated. It differs from the other species of the genus by having ascomata appearing very late, 16-spored asci, large, stellate, violet-brown ascospores and in lacking an anamorph.
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Emericella pluriseminata sp. nov. (Eurotiales, Ascomycota), isolated from Indian soil, is described and illustrated. It differs from the other species of the genus by having ascomata appearing very late, 16-spored asci, large, stellate, violet-brown ascospores and in lacking an anamorph.
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