Abstract
Elbamycellaroseasp. nov., introduced in the new genus Elbamycella, was collected in the Mediterranean Sea in association with the seagrass Posidoniaoceanica and with the brown alga Padinapavonica. The affiliation of the new taxon to the family Juncigenaceae is supported by both morphology and phylogenetic inference based on a combined nrSSU and nrLSU sequence dataset. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogeny proved Elbamycellagen. nov. as a distinct genus within Juncigenaceae. The new genus has been compared with closely related genera and is characterised by a unique suite of characters, such as ascospores with polar appendages and peculiar shape and dimension of ascomata and asci.
Highlights
Marine fungi are a considerable part of the huge diversity of microorganisms that inhabit the Oceans (Richards et al 2012)
The present paper provides a phylogenetic and morphological study of the two strains that turn out to represent a new genus within the family Juncigenaceae
From a morphological point of view, the relatedness with the other species belonging to Juncigenaceae is confirmed by i) 3-septate spores (1–4 only in K. marinus), ii) 8-spored asci, and iii) ascomata with an elongated neck (Kohlmeyer et al 1997; Abdel-Wahab et al 2001; Abdel-Wahab et al 2010; Jones et al 2014; Abdel-Wahab et al 2018)
Summary
Marine fungi are a considerable part of the huge diversity of microorganisms that inhabit the Oceans (Richards et al 2012) These organisms, which are distributed worldwide, live on a broad range of biotic and abiotic substrates (e.g. algae, sponges, corals, sediments) (Jones and Pang 2012) and are divided in two major ecological categories, namely obligate and facultative marine fungi. The former grow and reproduce exclusively in the sea, the latter are terrestrial species that can actively grow and reproduce in marine environments. Fungal diversity is largely undescribed (Pang and Jones 2017)
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