Lucidascocarpa pulchella
Lucidascocarpa pulchella A. Ferrer, Raja & Shearer
Index Fungorum number: IF 508170
Holotype: ILL 40558
Etymology: From Latin Pulchella = very pretty
Sexual morph: Ascomata on wood, scattered to aggregated, numerous, superficial to partially immersed with white, glistening necks protruding from the substrate, venter globose to subglobose, 105–200 × 90–180 µm diam, white, glistening. Neck 160–280 × 38–50 µm, periphysate, cylindrical, curving irregularly, short hyphae protruding from the surface of the neck. Peridium 10–14 µm wide, composed of 5–7 elongated, thin-walled, hyaline cells, tissue of textura angularis in surface view. Pseudoparaphyses absent. Asci 145–150 × 28–30 µm (x̄ = 144 × 29 µm, n = 20), clavate, pedicellate, straight or at times slightly curved toward the base, with gelatinous material deposited around the apex of endoascus, containing 8 overlapping, obliquely biseriate ascospores. Dehiscence fissitunicate, ectotunica rupturing at the apex and becoming strongly wrinkled and curled inwards, endotunica elongating to a quarter length of the ascus. Ascospores 36–50 × 12– 16 µm (x̄ = 40 × 13 µm, n = 50), seven-septate, hyaline, ellipsoidal to fusiform, verruculose, multi-guttulate in a dictyose pattern, end cells lacking guttules, staining blue in aqueous nigrosin, surrounded by a large gelatinous sheath; gelatinous sheath ca. 2 µm wide in ascus, expanding in water to 28–60 µm wide at the mid region, 68–128 µm long at ascospore apices, germinating from ascospore apices. Asexual morph: undetermined. (Description from Ferrer et al. 2008)
Material examined: ECUADOR. NAPO: Yasuni National Park, Laguna-Tiputini River, 0°46′S, 79°51′W, water 26 C, pH 5.5–6, on submerged, decorticated wood, 4 Apr 2004, AF178-2. (ILL 40558 holotype)
Notes: Among the Dothideomycetes with light colored ascocarps Lucidascocarpa is similar to Aliquandostipite Inderb., Jahnulales in having translucent, light-colored fruiting bodies and septate ascospores surrounded by a broad gelatinous sheath (Inderbitzin et al. 2001). However, Lucidascocarpa does not have pseudoparaphyses or the wide, brown, septate hyphae that characterize the Jahnulales (Campbell et al. 2007). Lucidascocarpa can be accommodated in the Dothideales (sensu Barr 1987) because it has fissitunicate asci and lacks pseudoparaphyses. It is unusual in the order because of its white ascomata. Among the Dothideales, Lucidascocarpa shows some similarities to the genus Hyalocrea H. Sydow & Sydow in the Dothideaceae (Rossman 1987), in having light colored ascomata. However, the ascomata of Lucidascocarpa have a distinctive long cylindrical neck rather than a short ostiole and lack hairs present in most Hyalocrea species. In addition, the centrum of the ascomata of Lucidascocarpa is filled with numerous asci while Hyalocrea species have few asci per ascomata (Rossman 1987). Although ascospores of some Hyalocrea species have cellular appendages at each end, none of the species have verruculose ascospores surrounded by a broad gelatinous sheath as observed in Lucidascocarpa. Most Hyalocrea species have been reported growing on living leaves and one has been found growing on the stroma of other fungi (Rossman 1979, 1987) while Lucidascocarpa pulchella was found on submerged, decorticated wood. (Notes from Ferrer et al. 2008)
Freshwater distribution: Costa Rica and Ecuador (Ferrer et al. 2008), Peru (Shearer et al. 2015)
Fig. 1. Lucidascocarpa pulchella from the holotype. 1. Hyaline ascomata on surface of wood. 2. Neck with hyaline hyphae. 3. Peridium of an ascoma. 4. One ascoma in optical section showing discharge of ascospores through the neck. 5. Clavate ascus. 6. Ascus stained with 1% nigrosin showing the staining reaction of the ascospore end cells. 7. Ascus fixed with lactic acid. Arrows indicating the gelatinous material between the ecto- and endoascus at ascus apex. 8. Fissitunicate ascus dehiscence. 9. Partially empty ascus with arrows indicating the gelatinous material surrounding the apex of the endoascus. 10. Released ascus with arrows indicating the inward curling of the ectoascus wall. Bars: 1 = 500 µm; 2, 3 = 10 µm; 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 = 10 µm; 6 = 20 µm. (Ferrer et al. 2008)
References
Barr ME (1987) Prodromus to class Loculoascomycetes. Amherst, Massachusetts: Newell. 168 p
Campbell J, Ferrer A, Raja HA, Sivichai S, Shearer CA (2007) Phylogenetic relationships among taxa in the Jahnulales inferred from 18S and 28S nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences. Can J Bot 85:873–882. https://doi.org/10.1139/B07-080
Ferrer A, Raja HA, Shearer CA (2008) Lucidascocarpa pulchella, a new ascomycete genus and species from freshwater habitats in the American tropics. Mycologia 100:642–646. https://doi.org/10.3852/07-152R2
Inderbitzin P, Landvik S, Abdel-Wahab MA, Berbee ML (2001) Aliquandostipitaceae, a new family for two new tropical ascomycetes with unusually wide hyphae and dimorphic ascomata. Am J Bot 88:52–61. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657126
Rossman AY (1979) A preliminary account of the taxa described in Calonectria. Mycotaxon 8:485–558
Rossman AY (1987) The Tubeufiaceae and similar Loculoascomycetes. Mycol Pap 157:1–71
Shearer CA, Zelski SE, Raja HA, Schmit JP, Miller AN, Janovec JP (2015) Distributional patterns of freshwater ascomycetes communities along an Andes to Amazon elevational gradient in Peru. Biodivers Conserv 24:1877–1897. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0911-y
Recent Genus
1Neochlamydotubeufia
Neohelicomyces
Recent Species
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Neohelicomyces grandisporus