Genus

Aniptosporopsis

Species

lignatilis

Author

(K.D. Hyde) K.L. Pang, C.L. Lu, W.T. Ju et E.B.G. Jones, Bot. Mar. (In press 2017)

Class

Sordariomycetes, Subclass Hypocreomycetidae

Order

Microascales

Family

Halosphaeriaceae

Synonymy: ≡ Aniptodera lignatilis K.D. Hyde, Aust. Syst. Bot. 5: 111 (1992) Mycobank MB 818209

Description

Sexual morph: Ascomata 225-400 µm high, 160-350 µm diam., globose, subglobose to occasionally pyriform, hyaline to cream coloured, membranous, immersed to semi-immersed, becoming superficial, solitary or gregarious, ostiolate. Neck light coloured, periphysate. Peridium 18-23 µm thick, 3-6 layers of thick-walled elongate cells. Catenophyses present. Asci 128-171 × 28-40 µm, unitunicate, 8-spored, clavate, persistent with a flattened apex and an indistinct apical pore, plasmalemma retracted below the apex, pedicellate. Ascospores 33-55 × 12-17 µm, hyaline, fusiform, thick-walled, 1-septate, not constricted at the septum, appendaged. Appendages bipolar, initially hamate extending over the central septum, unfurling to form fine threads in water. Asexual morph undetermined.

Key references:

Hyde, KD (1992) Tropical Australian freshwater fungi. I. Some ascomycetes. Australian Systematic Botany 5: 109–116.

Jones EBG, Suetrong S, Sakayaroj J, Bahkali AH, Abdel-Wahab MA, Boekhout T, Pang KL (2015) Classification of marine Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Blastocladiomycota and Chytridiomycota. Fungal Diversity 73: 1-72.

Jones EBG, Ju WT, Lu CL, Guo SY, Pang KL (2017) The Halosphaeriaceae revisited. Botanica Marina (In press).

Pang KL, Jheng JS, Jones EBG. (2011) Marine mangrove fungi of Taiwan. National Taiwan Ocean University Press, Keelung. pp. 131.

Type & Location:

Other Specimens:

Substratum:

saprobic on dead mangrove wood.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, Philippines, Seychelles, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, USA.

Pertinent Literature:

Comments:

NOTES: Initially, Aniptodera lignatilis was collected on submerged wood in a freshwater habitat in Australia by Hyde (1992) and subsequently reported on mangrove wood from Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand (Pang et al. 2011). However, the species does not group with the type species of Aniptodera (A. chesapeakensis) but forms a sister clade to the species Okeanomyces cucullata, A. cheaspeakensis, Naïs inornata, Ascosacculus aquaticus and Thalespora appendiculata, a group with few morphological features in common with A. lignatilis. A new genus Aniptosporopsis is therefore introduced to accommodate this species which is monotypic and groups in the Halosphaeriaceae (Jones et al. 2015; Jones et al. 2017).

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