Neomassariosphaeria typhicola

Neomassariosphaeria typhicola Y. Zhang ter, J. Fourn. & K.D. Hyde, Stud. Mycol. 64: 96 (2009)

Index Fungorum number: IF 515479

Saprobic on submerged culm of Phragmites. Sexual morph: Ascomata 150–250 μm high, 300–500 μm diam., scattered or gregarious, immersed, lenticular or depressed ellipsoidal, with ostiolate papilla, stain the substrate purple, visible as a black, slightly protruding elongate papilla on the substrate. Peridium 20–35 μm thick, comprising several layers of rounded to angular, brown to dark brown, thick- walled cells. Pseudoparaphyses 1–2 μm wide, numerous, uneven in width or tuberculed, trabeculate, hyaline, septate, embedded in hyaline to reddish matrix. Asci 90–120 × 14–20 μm (x̄ = 97 × 16.5 μm, n = 10), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindro-clavate to broadly clavate, apically rounded, with a well-developed ocular chamber and short pedicel. Ascospores 30–40 × 6–8 μm (x̄ = 34.5 × 6.5 μm, n = 20), bi- to tri-seriate, narrowly to broadly fusoid, with subacute or rounded ends, straight or curved, 7-septate, constricted at the septa, dark brown to black or reddish brown, minutely verruculose, somewhat thick-walled, usually with a thin, broadly fusoid or irregular, gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Notes: The monotypic genus Vargamyces was introduced by Tóth (1979) to accommodate V. aquaticus which was collected from submerged leaves and wood (Dudka 1966; Hyde and Goh 1999). Vargamyces aquaticus was transferred to Xylomyces based on detachable, fusiform, dematiaceous and multiseptate chlamydospores (Hyde and Goh 1999). However, Hernández-Restrepo et al. (2017) showed that V. aquaticus clustered in Amniculicolaceae, which is phylogenetically distant from the type species of Xylomyces, chlamydosporus. Therefore, Vargamyces is distinct and the only asexual genus in Amniculicolaceae, as listed in Wijayawardene et al. (2018, 2020). The lectotype (Dudka (1966)) and epitype (CBS H-22992, culture ex-epitype CBS 636.91) were also designated by Hernández-Restrepo et al. (2017).

Specimen examined: DENMARK Fournier (IFRD 2018).