Conidial fungi from the semi-arid Caatinga biome of Brazil: The genus Menisporopsis

Alisson Cardoso Rodrigues Da Cruz,Marcos Fabio Oliveira Marques,Luís Fernando Pascholati Gusmão

doi:10.1590/0102-33062014abb3207

Abstract

The genus Menisporopsis S. Hughes is characterized by synnematous conidiomata around a central seta, phialidic conidiogenous cells and falcate to lunate 0- to 1-septate conidia with terminal setulae. Currently, nine species are included in the genus. In the course of investigating conidial fungi associated with decaying plant material in the semi-arid region of Brazil, we identified five Menisporopsis species: M. kobensis Matsush.; M. novae-zelandiae S. Hughes & Kendr.; M. pirozynskii Varghese & Rao; M. profusa Piroz. & Hodges; and M. theobromae S. Hughes. Ours represents only the second record of M. kobensis for the world. We present descriptions, comments, geographic distributions and illustrations for all five species, as well as a key to the recognized species.

Highlights

Hughes, which was isolated from decaying leaves of Theobroma cacao L. (Malvaceae) in Ghana (Hughes 1952). This genus is characterized by synnematous conidiomata that surround a central, simple, dark brown seta, phialidic conidiogenous cells and lunate to falcate 0- to 1-septate conidia with terminal setulae
The majority of the Menisporopsis species were originally described as occurring on decaying leaves, except for M. multisetulata K.M
The genus Menisporopsis is distributed in pantropical areas (Seifert et al 2011), and

Summary

Introduction

Hughes was first introduced with the description of the species Menisporopsis theobromae S. (Malvaceae) in Ghana (Hughes 1952) This genus is characterized by synnematous conidiomata that surround a central, simple, dark brown seta, phialidic conidiogenous cells and lunate to falcate 0- to 1-septate conidia with terminal setulae. Menisporopsis ludoviciana (J.L. Crane & Schokn.) P.M. Kirk & B. Sutton, proposed from Chaetopsina ludoviciana J.L. Crane & Schokn. (Kirk & Sutton 1985), exhibits a branched seta and bacilliform conidia without terminal setulae, differing from the nine other species of the genus. The majority of the Menisporopsis species were originally described as occurring on decaying leaves, except for M. multisetulata K.M. Tsui, Goh, K.D. Hyde & Hodgkiss, which was collected from submerged decomposing wood in China (Tsui et al 1999). The genus Menisporopsis is distributed in pantropical areas (Seifert et al 2011), and

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