Vaginatispora amygdali A. Hashim., K. Hiray. & Kaz. Tanaka

Classification – Lophiostomataceae, Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota

Index Fungorum number –IF823145; Facesoffungi number – FoF 05089

Other useful webpages – outlineoffungi.org; fungalgenera.org; Dothideomycetes.org

Sordariomycetes.org; coelomycetes.org

Description – Saprobic on dead stems of Smilax china. Sexual morph: Ascomata 300–400 × 400–500 μm (av. 340 × 435 μm, n = 10), ellipsoidal-fusiform, sparse, immersed, superficial, black. Ostiolar neck 100–150 ×100–400 μm wide, central, papillate, elongate, laterally compressed, 15–20 μm diam, globose to elongated, dark brown to black cells in the ostiole. Peridium 35–40 μm wide, brown-black, thick side, 5–8 layers of rectangular, 10–15 × 3−5 μm, brown to hyaline cells; light brown, 10–15 μm wide thick base. Pseudoparaphyses 1–3 μm wide, numerous, hyphae-like, cellular. Asci 80–130 × 15–20 μm (av. 97 × 17 μm, n = 20), bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical-clavate, with a short stipe (10–20 μm, n = 10), apically rounded with a broad ocular chamber, 8-spored. Ascospores 25–40 × 5–10 μm (av. 31 × 8.5 μm, n = 40), hyaline, striate, fusiform, euseptate, verrucose, obtuse ends, slightly constricted at the septa. Sheath drawn out 5–10 μm long at both ends Asexual morph: undetermined.

Culture characteristics – Colonies on PDA reaching 3 cm diam. after 14 days at 25 °C, irregular, umbonate, rough, undulate, for above, radial white on the surface, layer becoming black-brown, white margin, for the reverse, the centre black, and brown toward the edges, gradually becoming lighter.

Material examined – China, Guangdong Province, Shaoguan City, Danxia Mountain, on Smilax china L., (Smilacaceae), 11 November 2020, YR. Xiong & B. Xu (ZHKU 21-0008, new host record), living cultures ZHKUCC 21-0116, ZHKUCC 21-0117 and ZHKUCC 21-0118.

GenBank accession numbers – ITS: OL692367, OL692368, OL692369; LSU: OL692422, OL692423, OL692424; tef1-α: OL901255, OL901256, OL901257; tub2: OL878991, OL878992, OL878993.

Notes – See Manawasinghe et al. (2022).

Vaginatispora amygdali (ZHKU 21-0008, new host record). a, b Appearance of ascomata on a dead branch. c Longitudinal section of an ascoma. d Peridium. e Pseudoparaphyses. f Ascus apex. g–k Asci. l–s Ascospores. t Germinating ascospore. u, v Culture characters on PDA (u: above view; v: reverse view). Scale bar: c = 200 μm, d = 20 μm, e, f = 5 μm, g–t = 20 μm.

Maximum likelihood tree inferred from the combined SSU, ITS, LSU, tef1-α, rpb2 and tub2 sequence data for Vaginatispora amygdali. The tree is rooted to Teichospora trabocola (C134) and T. rubriostiolata (TR7). Maximum likelihood bootstrap support values equal to or greater than 50% and Bayesian posterior probabilities equal to or greater than 0.95 are shown near the nodes (ML/BYPP). Ex–type/ex–epitype strains are in bold. The new isolates from South China region are indicated in red.