Neoachaetomiella cavernicola X. F. Liu, Karun., Tibpromma & K. D. Hyde 2026, sp. nov.
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Neoachaetomiella cavernicola X. F. Liu, Karun., Tibpromma & K. D. Hyde sp. nov. Fig. 21 Etymology. “ Caverna ” means cave in Latin, and “ cola ” means dweller or inhabitant, hence the creation of the epithet. Holotype. GMB -W 1532. Description. Associated with rock surface in the cave. Sexual morph on PDA: Ascomata 300–600 × 150–350 μm, usually covered by thick aerial hyphae, olivaceous or umber to dark-brick in reflected light owing to ascomatal hairs, obovate or ovate, ostiolate. Terminal hairs errucose, brown, erect to flexuous or slightly undulate, usually unbranched, 2–6 μm near the base, tapering towards the tips. Lateral hairs are similar. Asci 38–80 × 6–18 μm (x ̄ = 56.06 × 12.34, n = 60), 8 - spored, fasciculate, fusiform or clavate, evanescent. Ascospores 7–13 × 5–9 μm (x ̄ = 9.58 × 7.09, n = 150), biseriate, hyaline to olivaceous brown at maturity, limoniform, some globose, verruculose, thick-walled, biapiculate, bilaterally flattened, sometimes with distinct oil droplets and an apical germ pore. Asexual morph: Undetermined. Culture characteristics. Colony on PDA attaining 50 mm after 15 days at room temperature (25 ± 2 ° C), folded, white to light yellow, margin undulate to erose to fimbriate. Ascomata arise from the colony, yellowish-brown after 50 days. Odor absent. Material examined. CHINA • Yunnan Province, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Mang City, Mengga Town, Sanxian Cave, on rock surface, 24.232220°N, 98.426103°E, elev. ca 1528.89 m, 23 April 2024, Xiangfu Liu and Xuemei Chen, MS 41 D (GMB -W 1532, holotype), ex-type GMBCC 2270, ibid., MS 41 D 2 (GMB -W 1533, isotype), ex-isotype GZCC 25-0730. Notes. In the multi-gene phylogenetic analyses of the combined ITS, LSU, rpb 2, and tub 2 regions, Neoachaetomiella cavernicola (GMBCC 2270 and GZCC 25-0730) formed a distinct lineage, well separated from Achaetomiella and Collariella (Fig. 20). Morphologically, N. cavernicola is similar to these genera but is distinguished by olivaceous to olivaceous-brown, limoniform to fusiform, bilaterally flattened ascospores, with an apical germ pore, typically 7–15 μm in length. In contrast, Achaetomiella is characterized by simple ascomatal hairs evenly distributed over the ascoma, and ellipsoidal or fusiform ascospores with a length usually more than 9 μm, and Collariella is characterized by broadly limoniform to quadrangular, bilaterally flattened ascospores with an apical germ pore, with a length generally less than 7.5 μm (Wang et al. 2022). In addition, the PHI test results (Fig. 6 E) revealed no significant recombination relationships between N. cavernicola and its phylogenetically related taxa within the dataset. Herein, we introduce Neoachaetomiella cavernicola as a new species based on both morphological comparison and phylogenetic analyses.
Authors: Liu, Xiang-Fu, Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Chethana, K. W. Thilini, Lu, Li, Hyde, Kevin D., Lu, Wen-Hua, Xu, Rui-Fang, Chen, Xue-Mei, Zhang, Xian, Chen, Ming-Xiu, Xiao, Xing-Juan, Zhao, Chang-Lin, Du, Tian-Ye, Dai, Dong-Qin, Al-Arjani, Al-Bandari F., Elgorban, Abdallah M., Suwannarach, Nakarin, Kumla, Jaturong, Yu, Fu-Qiang, Wang, Mei-Mei, Karunarathna, Samantha C.
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7204253114
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