Jennwenomyces, a new hyphomycete genus segregated from Belemnospora, producing versicolored phragmospores from percurrently extending conidiophores

Abstract

Jennwenomyces, a new hyphomycete genus segregated from Belemnospora, is proposed to accommodate Belemnospora navicularis, based on morphological and molecular data. Jennwenomyces navicularis is described and illustrated based on two specimens collected on decaying culms of Miscanthus floridulus submerged in freshwater streams of Alishan area, Chiayi County, Taiwan. Jennwenomyces produces dematiaceous, versicolored, straight, navicular to cylindrical euseptate phragmospores borne on multiple percurrently extending, annellate conidiophores. Conidial secession is schizolytic, leaving a protuberant hilum at the base of the conidium. The genus is compared with Belemnospora and other morphologically similar hyphomycete genera with percurrent conidiophores such as Endophragmiella, Junewangia, Repetophragma, and Sporidesmiella. Phylogenetic analysis inferred from nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence data placed Jennwenomyces within the Sordariomycetes, clustered with species of Dictyosporella, Junewangia, and Sporidesmiella in the family Junewangiaceae.