Pseudoastrosphaeriella
Pseudoastrosphaeriella Phook., Z.L. Luo & K.D. Hyde
Index Fungorum number: IF551641, Facesoffungi number: FoF 01234
Saprobic on bamboo and palms in freshwater or terrestrial habitats. Sexual morph: Ascostromata dark brown, scattered to gregarious, immersed to erumpent, slightly conical to lenticular or hemisphaerical, with flattened base, uni- to bi-loculate, glabrous, coriaceous, with ostiolate papilla. Ostioles central, cylindrical, brittle, carbonaceous, with short or long neck. Peridium thick-walled, unequal in thickness, composed of pseudoparenchymatous cells, outer layers mostly comprising host cells and fungal tissue, poorly developed at the base. Pseudoparaphyses numerous, trabeculate, filiform, hyaline, branching and anastomosing, embedded in a hyaline gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, bitunicate, clavate to cylindric-clavate, pedicellate, with ocular chamber. Ascospores overlapping uni- to tri-seriate, brown to reddish brown, fusiform to clavate, septate, rough-walled or smooth-walled, with or without striations, or with longitudinal ridges, with or without a mucilaginous sheath (Phookamsak et al. 2015). Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiomata pycnidial, immersed, solitary to scattered, conical or hemisphaerical to globose, ostiolate. Peridium thick-walled, unequal in thickness, composed of dark, pseudoparenchymatous cells. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, discrete, cylindrical or cylindric-clavate or ampulliform, septate, hyaline, smooth-walled. Conidia globose to subglobose, or oblong, aseptate, hyaline, smooth-walled. (Description from Phookamsak et al. 2015).
Type species: Pseudoastrosphaeriella thailandensis Phook., Z.L. Luo & K.D. Hyde
Notes: Pseudoastrosphaeriella was introduced to accommodate astrosphaeriella-like species (Phookamsak et al. 2015). Pseudoastrosphaeriella is distinguished from Astrosphaeriella Syd. & P. Syd. by its immersed ascostromata beneath the host epidermis, with short or long necks, and the peridium comprising host cells and fungal tissue. In contrast, Astrosphaeriella has erumpent ascostromata through the host epidermis, with a star-like or rounded flange and small papilla, and the peridium comprising an opaque, black, amorphous, brittle layer (Liu et al. 2011; Phookamsak et al. 2015). Seven species are accepted in Pseudoastrosphaeriella, five of which are from freshwater habitats. All freshwater Pseudoastrosphaeriella species (see list below), have rough-walled ascospores with minute striations or longitudinal ridges (Phookamsak et al. 2015), except our new species P. aquatica which has smooth-walled ascospores. (Notes from Dong et al. 2020)
List of freshwater Pseudoastrosphaeriella species
Pseudoastrosphaeriella africana (D. Hawksw.) Phook. & K.D. Hyde, Fungal Divers 74: 183 (2015)
Basionym: Astrosphaeriella africana D. Hawksw., Sydowia 38: 116 (1986) [1985]
Freshwater distribution: Thailand (Phookamsak et al. 2015)
Pseudoastrosphaeriella aquatica W. Dong, H. Zhang & K.D. Hyde, Fungal Divers 105: 486 (2020)
Freshwater distribution: Thailand (Dong et al. 2020)
Pseudoastrosphaeriella bambusae Phook. & K.D. Hyde, Fungal Divers 74: 186 (2015)
Freshwater distribution: Thailand (Phookamsak et al. 2015; Dong et al. 2020)
Pseudoastrosphaeriella longicolla Phook. & K.D. Hyde, Fungal Divers 74: 186 (2015)
Freshwater distribution: Thailand (Phookamsak et al. 2015)
Pseudoastrosphaeriella papillata (K.D. Hyde & J. Fröhl.) Phook. & K.D. Hyde, Fungal Diversity 74: 188 (2015)
Basionym: Astrosphaeriella papillata K.D. Hyde & J. Fröhl., Sydowia 50(1): 109 (1998)
Freshwater distribution: Brunei (Hyde and Frohlich 1998), Philippines (Cai et al. 2003), Yunnan, China (Luo et al. 2004)
Key to freshwater Pseudoastrosphaeriella species
1. Ascospores smooth-walled.......................................................... P. aquatica
1. Ascospores rough-walled............................................................................ 2
2. Ascospores with mucilaginous sheaths or appendages................................ 3
2. Ascospores without mucilaginous sheaths................................................... 4
3. Ascospores surrounded by irregular sheaths.............................. P. bambusae
3. Ascospores with small, pad-like, mucilaginous appendages at both ends....... P. papillata
4. Ascospores (39–)40–48(–50) × 5–7 μm........................................... P. africana
4. Ascospores (48–)50–60(–63.5) × 5.5–7(–7.5) μm........................... P. longicolla
References
Dong W, Wang B, Hyde KD, McKenzie EHC, Raja HA, Tanaka K, Abdel-Wahab MA, Abdel-Aziz FA, Doilom M, Phookamsak R, Hongsanan S, Wanasinghe DN, Yu X-D, Wang G-N, Yang H, Yang J, Thambugala KM, Tian Q, Luo Z-L, Yang J-B, Miller AN, Fournier J, Boonmee S, Hu D-M, Nalumpang S, Zhang H (2020) Freshwater Dothideomycetes. Fungal Divers 105:319–575
Hyde KD, Frohlich J (1998) Fungi from palms XXXVII. the genus Astrosphaeriella, including ten new species. Sydowia 50:81–132
Liu JK, Phookamsak R, Jones EBG, Zhang Y, Ko-Ko TW, Hu HL, Boonmee S, Doilom M, Chukeatirote E, Bahkali AH, Wang Y, Hyde KD (2011) Astrosphaeriella is polyphyletic, with species in Fissuroma gen. nov., and Neoastrosphaeriella gen. nov. Fungal Divers 51:135–154
Luo J, Yin J, Cai L, Zhang KQ, Hyde KD (2004) Freshwater fungi in Lake Dianchi, a heavily polluted lake in Yunnan, China. Fungal Divers 16:93–112
Phookamsak R, Norphanphoun C, Tanaka K, Dai DQ, Luo ZL, Liu JK, Su HY, Bhat DJ, Bahkali AH, Mortimer PE (2015) Towards a natural classification of Astrosphaeriella-like species; introducing Astrosphaeriellaceae and Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae fam. nov. and Astrosphaeriellopsis, gen. nov. Fungal Divers 74:143–197
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